We'd decided to do the run a day early not because of the great weather but because we had plans in the evening to meet friends at Banya 5, Seattle's Russian-style bathhouse, an "urban spa." This is the third or fourth time we've been and I love it. Admission is steep compared to going a hot springs in Japan, but beggars can't be choosers. I finally booked myself a 40-minute salt scrub. I just had to try it after Matisse's description.
It was heavenly, though not as abraisive as I imagined. I went through the whole hot tub/steam room/tepid pool/sauna/cold plunge cycle twice before plunkin myself down on the table, so I was already nice and rubbery by the time the scrub started. Basically, you're doused in warm water, latered in honey, covered in sea salt scrub, shampooed, rinsed, and turned over for the same treatment on the other side. Mmm. It was wholly invigorating, and I came out of it refreshed enough to take another bout in the platza and even beat on Justin with the oak branches for a bit.
We came home famished, ate a huge amount of ravioli, and watched Hard Candy (which I'm not sure I'd recommend-- it was interesting but not really thought-provoking OR entertaining) and crashed. Somehow we managed to do all this, run errands, and clean the house on one Saturday, which made me feel awesomely productive.
So today's been more relaxed, a nice change of pace because I'm used to spending Sunday mornings running. We walked up to Walingford and had breakfast at Julia's Bakey and since then we've been sitting around on the couch, watching movies and poking at our laptops.
Because the weather was so warm yesterday, it seems like forever since I went snowshoeing with co-workers, but really it's only been a week. Go figure that it would take me that long to get all the pictures edited. Here they are: you can see that the distance between a 70-degree Saturday and 3-feet of snow is just an hour-long drive into the mountains.
Also, I forgot to mention that Justin and I revisited a very nostalgic place for Valentines Day-- Chez Shea, the restaurant we last ate at for my high school prom in 2000. He had to attend clinicals at Children's Hospital on Valentines Day actual, so we went out the next night. Dinner was an amazing five-course special with an exquisite wine pairing. I think the Hokkaido sea scallops I got for the main course was one of, if not THE most, delicious dishes I've ever gotten at a restaurant. So while I'm not a fan of the holiday in general, we did have a wonderful celebration of our romance and enjoyed remembering the 7-year journey our love has been so far.
Posted on February 18, 2007 @ 2:03 PM | 4 comments
Comments:
My gawd I wish we had a spa around here, I could use that kind of pampering!!
By 
LazyLightning, at
5:46 PM, February 18, 2007
Next time you visit.
By 
Justin, at
5:51 PM, February 19, 2007
The new banner graphic is just so GREEN and CHEERY and I love it. Really. It makes me feel happy and hip just looking at it!
Fun and good times with the snowshoeing. And... mew... can we go to Banya Five when next visit? Mew?
By Rachel, at
6:59 PM, February 19, 2007
you guys seem to know / appreciate quite a bit about food. ever thought of writing reviews?
By , at
7:39 PM, February 20, 2007
But hey...we've got to support our troops! You can't actually imply that this war has been a mistake because that demeans their sacrifice. So he apologized. I know this is an uphill argument, because many (although certainly not all) military families still believe this war is a good one, but this is how the dictionary defines "wasted": to consume, spend, or employ uselessly or without adequate return; use to no avail or profit; squander. I suppose someone's making a profit here, but I don't think it's the kind that people imagined their sons and daughters dying to secure.
So yeah, Obama apologized, but let's face facts...a lot of lives have been consumed, spent and employed uselessly, without adequate return and used to no avail or profit. Even as some of our politicians admit that the reasoning going to war was completely shoddy we best keep our game faces on. This is not open for debate.
Posted on February 13, 2007 @ 9:37 AM | 4 comments
Comments:
I'm glad you wrote this down-- it's a good point and a good post.
The last thing Obama needs is to make apologies already-- he's already got his race, his inexperience, and his name against him, sadly.
By Kat, at
11:05 AM, February 13, 2007
Good point indeed. I agree that Obama does have an uphill battle to fight and that some asshats will use his race and name against him. However, he is no less experienced than Clinton was when he ran for president. He's got perspective, education, charisma, and passion that people are ready for.
I'm so excited about Obama that I feel as though his presidency might be the prize for putting up with Bush for the last 8 years. I'm so excited that I don't want to get excited... in case it doesn't happen. The possibility of him being voted into office yanks my happy chain.
By Rachel, at
6:49 PM, February 13, 2007
It seems that Obama is getting mud thrown at him from all directions.
As for the war being a waste, not to those that have profited, being defense corporations and oil companies. I am certain they think this is a just and right war.
By running42k, at
4:17 AM, February 14, 2007
i think this is one of those times when the republicans are laughing at us, though. "yeah pleeeease nominate him lol!" because he'll be so unelectable. we have to remember that most americuns probably don't even know what / where kenya is.
By , at
3:13 PM, February 14, 2007
We had a wonderful run this morning. Our route was along the Sammamish River, starting at Marymoor Park in Redmond. The weather cooperated nicely-- a partly cloudy, humid and breezy 50 degrees. Jeff cameled for us the whole way on his bike and his company also provided a welcome distraction from the tedium of distance. Several other folks on bikes or on foot commented on Justin's Portland marathon shirt saying they themselves were veterans. It was a funny feeling, being recognized as seasoned runners ourselves, because every time I go out on a long distance run, I still feel like it's the first and farthest. I had no complaints about today. Even after spending yesterday snowshoeing the Commonwealth Basin with coworkers (pic to follow), we ran well, ran rested, and ran fast for a total time of 2:10:31 over 13.1 miles. This is us just as we're coming in to the finish:
Posted on February 11, 2007 @ 2:56 PM | 4 comments
Comments:
Looks like your run was significantly warmer then mine. I did 16 miles in -15 Celcius weather. I didn't wear shorts.
By running42k, at
4:06 AM, February 12, 2007
D-:
Wow. Well, you're brave. This was the first time we wore shorts on a long run-- it was 50 degrees yesterday. :)
By Kat, at
7:22 AM, February 12, 2007
Wow, wish I could say some day that I can run 13 miles...I'm working on getting out there in the mornings to run!
By Allie, at
7:01 PM, February 12, 2007
wonderful biking with two friends running and being part of a fantastic day for exercise. wonderful conversation, great wildlife sightings (bald eagles), "the big nipple" building, helicopters over the Red Hook building... KUDOs to Kat and Justin for the 13 miles. ain't no way i could have 'run' the distance. bike it, yes. it was a fantastic run!!!
Posted on February 08, 2007 @ 5:01 PM | 7 comments
Comments:
This is soooo pretty!
And I know what you mean. Except that I would just be happy if it'd get above 0.
By Lazy Lightning, at
7:57 PM, February 08, 2007
and i remember growing up in ND and seeing -10 as t-shirt weather!! yup, 18 years in central-western ND. hmmm... february and not seeing zero? wait till it hits -30 in May. i'll take seattle any day of the year!!
By , at
10:41 PM, February 08, 2007
for me it's been bitterly cold but still don't have enough snow for cross country skiing or snow shoeing.
Enjoy the snow shoeing. The new kind are great.
By running42k, at
3:29 AM, February 09, 2007
the green looks great!
re: "two dogs." apparently what i wrote didn't transfer well: i said 'thanks' because you were apparently sharing an emotional insight gained in relating to another individual's experiences and passing it on to others; by a 'slap in the face' i meant a 'wake up call.' as in, sometimes it's good to say 'damn, my life is BLESSED, despite all the tedium, despite the fact that i ran over someone's kitty.' in other news: anna nicole is dead?! say it ain't so.
By , at
3:17 PM, February 09, 2007
Thanks.
I got the slaps thing-- we were all jokingly referring to this commercial: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vKp3dQy7eyA
Heehehe. :)
And you're welcome!
By Kat, at
3:21 PM, February 09, 2007
Looks great!
By inkandpen, at
6:43 PM, February 09, 2007
Pretty new design! But I don't think Seattle is more "advanced", I just think that our weather in the PacNW is more springy than in some regions.
P.S. Haha I just misspelled my name and I like it so much that I'm not going to correct it lols.
By Racgek, at
9:18 PM, February 11, 2007
Woohoo! I just finished a massive, and I mean HUGENORMOUS RFP for work. That's a "Request for Proposal" to all you RFP virgins out there-- and I highly recommend you stay that way. Basically, it means that some library out there wants to purchase a product that we (and our competitors) manufacture. They send a glorified, excruciatingly detailed, and often point-based survey out to everyone they're thinking of buying from.
This one ended up having a 300-page response. We were notified of it just before the New Year and hardly had enough lead-time with prep for the ALA conference in mid-January. Therefore, I've spent the last week STRAIGHT working on it, literally day and night. I'm looking forward to having my evenings free for me-time once again!
The big-ass thing is due on Friday and is going out via FedEX overnight tomorrow morning. Thank God it's over. Now I can get back to being social... but I'm so exhausted I feel like a recluse!
Posted on February 07, 2007 @ 6:22 PM | 0 comments
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Aside from the touchdown in the first 14 SECONDS of the game and one immediately following it, the game was a series of embarrassing fumbles and interceptions. Oh look, a fumble! Oh, another interception! The rain didn't help.
Even the commercials were uninspiring. The only one that really got a response was the Budweiser "Rock Paper Scissors" commercial. The fan-made Doritos "Live the Flavor" commercial was pretty cute too (the Doritos ad with the check-out lady is just FOUL). But the rest were... lamely full of cartoon violence and tired jokes. Even the Snickers commercial with the kissing mechanics, which is now banned (and hence will get more publicity) because of complaints from gay & human rights groups, was sadly unentertaining.
Surprisingly, the most entertaining thing about the whole shebang was halftime with Prince. His singing wasn't particularly inspiring, nor was his pantomimed guitar playing. But his theatrics were, well...
There wasn't a one of us in the room who thought the guitar phallus was unintentional. That little smile on his face was pretty telling, too.
Of course, Prince's massive synthetic cock and balls has caused MUCH less stir in the news media than Timberlake revealing Janet Jackson's tit. Why? Because it wasn't real! Wait, wait... Janet's tits aren't... either. Well, I guess it must have been the *cough* subtlety of it all.
Another year, another ridiculous media stunt.
UPDATE: It looks like the media have gotten wind of the "malfunction" now.
Posted on February 06, 2007 @ 8:51 PM | 0 comments
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None of this, of course, was intended to poke fun at the alcoholics. Our plans had been laid before Justin's last minute AA assignment. That's just how it ended up. It turned out to be all the better for both of us-- I got the week out of my system and Justin got another assignment out of the way.
What was really interesting were the stories Justin brought back from the meeting. There were over 40 people in attendance, a large number of whom were phenomenal speakers. I'm sure many of them would credit the years they've spent sharing their experiences in front of a crowd. Justin said they spoke about learning to live strongly and confidently, about their experiences coming back to life, and about their thoughts on the 12-step program.
Many of them didn't subscribe to the AA regimen, even though they acknowledged that it had saved their lives. They valued the community and solidarity more than they valued the sponsors and the spiritual aspects of the program. One woman credited Old Growth forests as her "higher power." I love the Pacific Northwest.
Justin shared with me a number of anecdotes and mottos, all of which I've forgotten at the moment except one, which is the subject of this post.
A man stood up in the middle of the meeting and shared his name and his story. He said, "I once heard someone explain that you've got two dogs in you... a positive dog and a negative dog... and whichever one you feed is the one that grows bigger." The man went on to explain that when he started AA he was extremely negative but now he's found that he's a much more healthy person because he can find the positive in anything.
He said he recently attended the funeral of his second child, a grown woman. The first had died of crib death years before. He said that at her funeral, he kept reminding himself that it could have been so much worse. He didn't say what happened-- just that she died young and happy, with a nice house, a good job, and a man that loved her. He said he was glad that it had been quick and she hadn't suffered. He though it so much better that she'd died at the top of her game, at a happy time, than if she'd gone out in misery.
Now that takes courage.
I've found myself thinking a lot about the two dogs over the last several days. But I don't like to imagine having dogs inside of me (it might be a little cramped), so in my metaphor they are flames. A positive flame, which burns brightly and clearly, and a negative flame, that sucks away the light. Whichever flame I feed is the one that grows.
I've been struggling not to feed the negative flame, in part because it's that dark, dreary time of year that sets me off, and in part because I've had to handle some baggage lately. Some my recent experiences have been learning to deal with a lack of sensitivity in others and in myself. I've had friendships struggle because of it. I even lost a few. I've dealt with insensitive clods at work and have even made career decisions because of it. And, unfortunately, I've had to deal with a lot of sophomoric bullshit spewed forth from the mouths of people who apparently make themselves feel better by demeaning others. I've overreacted, I've underreacted, I've, quite frankly, forgotten how to react except by feeling exceptionally bitter.
In short, I've lost a lot of faith in people. And I've lost a lot of faith in myself. I'd hoped that I'd be able to live my life mindfully as an adult, but this negativity has taken hold of my emotional wellbeing too many times over the last few months.
The saddest part, however, is that it's really all cerebral. In reality, I have absolutely nothing to feel angry about. I love my job, I love my fiance, I love my apartment, and I love all the new people I've been spending time with. But it's like I said before about how writing/blogging is easier when feeling down... in the same respect, it's easier to throw a bone to the negative dog than the positive one.
At some point, you've got to decide to grow the part of you that's good for you. Even if you feel hurt, or betrayed, or just insulted that the world is full of such petty shit. Even if, like our friend at AA, you're at your daughter's funeral.
It's the time of year when I need to remind myself to feed the flame that makes me who I am-- the one that grows my passion for life, rather than devours it. And likewise (in the other metaphor), it's time to starve the pitt bull of apathy and derision. Pitt Bull of Doom. Err, bah... whatever.
So thank you, Mister. I never met you but you inspired me. I'm ready to start being positive...
...I just have to get through tax season first.
Posted on February 05, 2007 @ 9:50 PM | 6 comments
Comments:
Amazing entry. Very raw. I think you are going to be ok as you see what the issues are and work towards them. remember the blessings you have as you articulated in the last paragraph. Sometimes the reminders help.
By running42k, at
10:43 AM, February 06, 2007
thanks, kat. sometimes we all need to smack ourselves in the face. in a good way.
By , at
6:08 PM, February 06, 2007
Why are you thanking me?
But yeah, I'm all about the good smacks. :-)
By Kat, at
7:05 PM, February 06, 2007
Apparently the new trend these days is to smack people in the face instead of giving knucks.
/ me slaps myself and Kat in the face
By Rachel, at
10:48 PM, February 06, 2007
Haha, yep it is, Rachel!
*slaps rachel in the face*
By Kat, at
6:10 PM, February 07, 2007
*slaps running42k, rebecca, kat, and rachel in the face*
Because everyone else was doing it...
Now we're going to stuff our faces with chips and guacamole at Tom & Amy's Superbowl commercial-viewing party. Gotta make sure to reward ourselves with clogged arteries for keeping in such great shape!
Posted on February 04, 2007 @ 11:54 AM | 1 comments
Comments:
what? bathroom breaks? ;-) just kidding... great run and time. u still have lots of time to work it out. and i'm gonna make sure you and justin run those 11 miles in Amsterdam. me b in the boat floatin' along the canal sippin champagne... n smokin!!! urgin u along!!!
By , at
9:23 PM, February 05, 2007
Anyhow, we were at Whole Foods looking for a quick dinner fix the other day when we came across Silver Platter pasta sauce on sale. You know, it was stacked at one of the aisle-ends like they do when they want to get your attention. I didn't even know that Silver Platter made pasta sauce, but it turns out they do... and vodka cream sauce nonetheless. I do wonder, however, if there was a reason that the sauce was on sale. It seems that, well, something was missing...
Need a closer look?
Yep, that's some calorie-free pasta sauce there, folks. And lemme tell you, it was taaaasteee. :D
In other news, I had my first guitar lesson last Thursday and it was fabulously fun. The only nerve wracking part about it was being late-- it took me half an hour to go about 11 miles from my house in Wallingford to my instructor's home in Ballard. The Fremont bridge being under construction has terminally f*cked things up. Next Thursday, if the weather is at all decent, I'm biking with my guitar bag on my back. Guh.
My instructor, John, is very patient and very experienced-- two good things he has going for him as a teacher. He's so calm it's almost creepy, but I suppose I'll get used to that as I've gotten used to Justin's dad being eerily calm.
During the first lesson, I played a short piece for John to show him my technique. Because I knew absolutely nothing about how to properly hold and strum a guitar, I was prepared to completely dismantle the way I'd been practicing. It turns out, of course, that I was doing it completely wrong-- but now I feel so much better. Today I took my guitar in to the shop to have the strings adjusted (the grooves in the nut needed to be deepened) and pick up a music stand (it pretty much sucks craning your neck to see a book on the coffee table).
I learned to read music many years ago, after playing Suzuki method piano in elementary school, clarinet in middle school band, and singing in high school concert choir. I gather that a lot of people go into playing guitar not knowing how to read sheet music and I'm almost jealous of them. Guitar annotations are so different than "normal" annotation that I'm much more comfortable playing things written out in clefs than I am on frets. This isn't a huge problem, since I've been playing things from a book that uses the former, but I'd like not to have to re-learn everything! I'm having a great time practicing, though, so it's not a huge complaint. :)
Tomorrow we run 6 miles for marathon training (Justin got new shoes!) and will be joining Tom & Amy (whom we met in Glacier '06) for a Super Bowl party.
Posted on February 03, 2007 @ 7:01 PM | 0 comments
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