Happy Thanksgiving!

The First Annual Loser Thanksgiving Party (LTP) went very well. There were five of us losers total - me, my sister, Steve and Meredith, and a coworker named Adam. For the five of us, we had two turkeys (one roasted, one deep-fried), mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, four pies, pasta salad, rolls, stuffing, and lots of pop and cheap Kool-Aid. We ate around 12:45 (which is apparently really early for the people around here, but late for my sister and I) then sat around watching football and talking and playing with the kitty for a little while. As it turns out, tomorrow is a big moving day for the LTP attendees. Steve and Meredith are moving into their new house, and Adam is moving to his new townhome. So the LTP officially broke up around 4 pm so they could go finish packing.

I volunteered to help Steve and Meredith move, but they said they have enough people helping so I don't have to come unless I'm bored. So I've been thinking about what I'm going to do tomorrow. I first thought about going shopping, not necessarily to buy anything but to witness first-hand the mad crowds. After perusing the online circulars for Wal-Mart and Home Depot, I think I'll sleep in instead. I think I might tackle the stupid flower borders in the kitchen and main floor bathroom and get them ready to paint. I still need to figure out a color. It's also supposed to be a fairly nice day, so maybe I'll go hiking or something. It'd be nice to go skiing again, but I'm on call for work. It sucks to be the only one of my friends either not with family or not working/busy tomorrow.

Waiting...

It's 9:30, and the painters still aren't here yet. I figured either I'd try to sleep in and they'd wake me up, or I'd get up early and they'd be really late. It's looking like the latter is coming true. I woke up at 5:00 this morning completely wide awake, so I got up. Hey, that's still sleeping in an hour for me! I've already worked out and cleaned a bit. Hopefully the painters will get here sometime before lunch, I volunteered to help a coworker and his wife paint their new house around 1:00.

So in my last post, which I posted in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, I said I was having an awesome week. I was...until later that day when I actually had to go to work. I was SO tired and just felt sick most of the day. I'm sure everyone thought I was being an a$$ because I was in such a bad mood. The good news is I think I'm finally recovered from the night shift. I guess I'm just getting old. ;-)

Insomnia

The bad thing about pulling a graveyard shift in the middle of the week is getting back on a sleep schedule so that you can still get all your hours in. So after working on Tuesday night, I only slept until 11 a.m. and went back into work for a couple hours. By 5:30, I was so tired I went to bed. Now it's 12:30 a.m. on Thursday morning and I can't sleep anymore. I guess I'll try to get a couple more hours and then just screw it and go into work. At least I only have to work about 7 hours tomorrow.

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to see Warren Miller's "Higher Ground" over the weekend. It wasn't as good as last year's film, but it still put me in the mood to go skiing...which I was going to do on Saturday until my HOA's painters decided we had to be home to open the door for them so they could finish painting. So I guess I'm going Sunday now. Early season skiing is kind of crappy, so I'm not too upset. I'm just a little mad at the painters.

Besides not being able to sleep tonight, my week has been going fabulous. I love good weeks. The only thing that sucks is I haven't been able to work out much (yes, I'm a running junkie now), but that's ok. The really great part about exercising is all the happy hormones it releases...and I have plenty of those this week. So here's to life!! :-)

Running!

I'm so glad I discovered running. It's been so much fun the last few days, I'm so glad that the weather has stayed mild enough to get outside. Yesterday I ran some unpaved trails in a state park with a guy from work, and today I went farther on my normal trail than ever before and even went to the gym afterwards! I'm actually starting to think about dropping my gym membership, and when it's too hot or cold to run outside, I can just use the small gym at work. That way I can also keep working on muscle.

I went to the theater last Sunday and saw Phantom of the Opera with a coworker. It's the first time I've been to the theater as well as the first time I've seen that musical. Both experiences were good, it's fun to actually go to a live play and people watch, and the show was great. The special effects were amazing. I'm going to another event this weekend, the Warren Miller film downtown Denver. About 12 of us are going to the show and then going out to eat afterwards. Should be fun...at least it'll get me excited for skiing!!

End of the Season

My flag football season ended last night with...what else, a loss. We finished completely winless...woohoo!! :-) Actually, as nice as it would have been to win a game, I had a blast just playing. Last night's game was against a team consisting of a lot of my team's friends, but it ended up being a little rough. The QB on the opposing team bit clear through his lip, my friend Kelly (also on other team) twisted her ankle pretty badly, a guy on my team hurt his knee, and another aggravated a muscle injury he received a few days before in a competitive league team. Now it's all over. I guess it's time to gear up for volleyball!

So I started a new workout routine - running. Gasp! Yes, I said I'm starting to run. And not just on the treadmill, but outside also!!! At my boss's Halloween party last weekend, there was a female marine there who was in really, really good shape, very toned and thin. I asked our mutual friend how she maintains herself, and he said she runs and runs and runs. So now I've started running on a trail by my house, and whenever I feel like quitting, I just think of how I want to be like her. Ok, so I know that I can't get all of her...um...assets by running, but I know it's the best way to get in shape and lose the rest of my weight. And now that I've started doing it, it's actually kind of fun! I'm dreading when the weather finally turns cold and I have to use a treadmill because I absolutely love running outside. Now I guess I should spend the money on good running shoes.

Well, I have to work a late shift tonight, so I guess I better go get ready. Yay, overtime!