i think peach's big smile has something to do with the chick to the left of the umbrella

the rest of the afternoon was spent on the bathroom floor rubbing my hubby’s back and generally trying to give him any comfort i could.  i finally convinced him to take some of the pain meds that were prescribed to him so he was able to get out a bit tonight.  we’re losing another brit tomorrow so we met up with mello and hairy for a little sendoff celebration for hairy.  we started at mellow mushroom for a snack.

mello and hairy

peach and sylvis

peach, sylvis, and mello worshipping the magic shroom

we then walked across the street to ms. newby’s to listen to some music and hangout.  we had a good time.

sylvis and me at newby's

love hairy's captain pose, mello, hubby, and sylvis at newby's

i’m glad we got out some but by the time we got home, hubby was hurting pretty good again.  i’m guessing it’s going to be another crappy night…

last night was a lousy night.  hubby has had pain in his lower abdomen for several weeks now, he who hates going to the doctors had been twice in the last two weeks.  last night it changed; it moved to his kidney and was bad enough to make him sick.  i spent several hours on the bathroom floor with him, trying to make him more comfortable.  work at 07:00 was not fun.  hubby went to the doctors (again!) while i worked and waited for our house guests to arrive.  they sent him to the urgent care center for a ct scan and diagnosed him with a 3mm kidney stone in the uvj just above the bladder.  he made it home just as i was helping our guests with their luggage in the parking garage.  i finished out the work day and we hung out with our friends who we have not seen in two years. 

happily, my camera finally arrived too.  she is sleek and shiny i shall call her cobalt canon.

reflections of cobalt

 we had to leave work a bit early to go to the dentist for our cleanings.  sylvis accompanied us and then we took her to our running store so that she could get herself some new running shoes before the bridge run.  peach met us at the parking lot right before the run.  sylvis and i stayed together going over the bridge.  ironically, i slowed down for her.  by the time we started back over, however, the heat was taking its toll on me.  it was 113 with the heat index – by far the hottest whether i have EVER tried to be active in – and i started blacking out.  i let sylvis go on ahead and i slowed down.  every time i tried to speed up, i blacked out.  by the fourth time, i found myself stumbling into the railing and decided it wasn’t worth pushing myself to the point of passing out.  by that time, sylvis was already out of my range anyhow so i slowed to a walk and took my time getting back to the parking lot.  so there you have it, my first time having friends for the bridge run and they totally smoked me.  ah well, such is life.  i think my running is going on sabbatical for the summer.  i seriously cannot deal with such heat. 

after the bridge, we went to the concert in the park where we ended up meeting up with mello, nightingale, faith, and a couple other runners. 

hubby, sylvis, and peach

me and hubby chillin' at the park

hangin' with the runners

 when we got back home, it was time for some mariokart action.  i wasn’t even dead last every time! 

mariokart time!

saturday was the 2009 splash and dash race at the naval base.  it was a 1/4 mile swim and 5k run.  i had planned on doing it with my hubby but since i twisted my knee by tripping over the ladder when i was painting the week before, i didn’t register to race for fear of reinjury.  i had really wanted to…  i’m glad i didn’t.  while i am certain that i could have totally done the quarter mile swim and 5k run, i’m also aware that i would have been slow.  and these people were ATHLETES.  as in… my poor boy, who is totally in shape and athletic, was near the back of the pack.  the awards ceremony would have been over and everyone gone home by the time i would have finished.  to say i was intimidated by this crowd would be an understatement. 

however, this post is not about me.  it’s about my awesome husband and what a terrific job he did on his first swim/run race. 

numbered up and ready to race

getting in the mental game in his yellow head-c0nd0m

faith, hubby, and scooter waiting for the start

 it was a mass start meaning approximately one hundred racers got in the water and treaded in the middle of the channel until the whistle blew.  suddenly, it was just arms everywhere! 

sea of arms

this is the first race he’s done that included a transition of any kind so there was definitely a learning curve.  his official time was 42:10, which includes the transition.  i timed him myself so that i could tell him his swim time and figure out his transition time.  his swim was 10:10:72 which was significantly faster than the training he’d been doing at home.  his transition was just over three minutes so there is room for improvement there now that he knows how it’s done (not to mention that he cut his foot open on a shell getting out of the water).

fish outta water

transitioning

running off

even though the swim was faster than his training, hubby was a bit discouraged to be so close to the back when he got out of the water.  however, his run made him feel much better as he was able to pass several people on his legs. 

here comes hubby!

this was a great thumbs-up pic but for my phone's delayed response

he finished 80 overall.  considering these were military folks and serious athletes and that this was hubby’s first transition race, i think he did super!  and, more importantly, he had fun. 

and, even more importantly than that, i got the wicked cool shirt because he ordered too small!!!

last night, i stayed up very late finishing the wall behind the bed in our room.  hubby doesn’t think it was worthwhile but it is exactly the effect i was looking for.  i did stripes in the same color as the rest of the wall, but glossy.  i was going for a subtle, classy stripe that would kind of mirror the subtle stripes in the underside of our comforter and sheets.  in certain lights and angles, you can’t even tell it’s striped but i like the surprise effect when you do see it.  originally, i had planned on using a glossy polycrylic for the stripes, which i think would have punched it up some but that stuff is crazy expensive.  anyhow, i’m pleased and since i’m the one who’s spent over a dozen hours on those walls this week that’s all that really matters.  this morning, i slept in very late and then got up and started reassembling my bedroom.  i’m so happy with the overall look.  and i’m thrilled beyond belief that i’ll be sleeping in my bed again tonight!  i do wish that we had gone with a slightly darker blue in the bedroom but that’s okay.  as it is, it is supposed to be a few shades darker than the bathroom and hallway but in most light, you can’t tell any difference in them at all.  now, the only unpainted walls in the condo are the common areas – front hall, kitchen, living room. 

you’ll have to excuse the below pix.  since the death of my beloved camera, i’ve remained too sad to replace her.  i really need to as i greatly miss having a camera but it’s just not as easy as running to the store and picking one up.  these pix were taken with hubby’s iphone which doesn’t have flash and just isn’t the best camera. 

you can see the subtle stripes in this shot

from this angle, you can hardly see the stripes at all and the hall looks like the same blue but it is actually a few shades lighter

i might as well post this one that tat took after dinner and drinks sunday night.

panda, train, hubby, me, o'neil, tat, nightingale, mello

we celebrated by getting up at 05:15 to meet up with our group for a 06:00 bridge run.  seventeen of us dragged our crazy butts out of bed to do that early run.  although, i think i’m the only one who’s not a morning person to begin with. 

i purposely tried to keep a very slow pace as i’m still nursing my legs from last thursday’s run.  since it was just going to be a once over for everyone, i considered cutting mine in half too by turning around when i got to the top of the bridge.  for some reason, i got to the top and kept going.  about halfway down the backside, tat was waiting with her camera to take a pic of me running. 

like the wind!

i joked with her about being the paparazzi and expected her to go along her way back to the parking lot.  instead, she turned and trotted along with me.  i told her she didn’t have to but i was really quite happy to have the company.  after we had turned around and started climbing the bridge again, she started giving me some pointers about my swing, strike, and breathing.  she also kept updating me on my pace, which i greatly appreciated and found encouraging.  about a hundred yards from the top, she made me sprint.  sadistic witch!!!  i didn’t think i had any more in me but she managed to drag it out.  at the top, we went back to a slow and steady pace and pretty much kept it up all the way back to the parking lot… which we reached in 37:58!  that is under a twelve minute pace, overall!!!!!  and i was seriously trying to go slow this morning. 

we got back in time to see mello getting interviewed by the local news and then i headed to the car to get my water and eye the donuts that were waiting for us.  i walked around a bit and talked with folks until i was cooled back down, at which point we were asked to go over and stand behind mello while he was being interviewed.  so those of us who were still there clumped up behind mello talking amongst ourselves and “acting natural” while he taped another interview for the noon news (which i watched and clapped at myself for being such a tv star!).  i broke down and grabbed a donut, thereby ruining any caloric benefit from the run, before hopping in the car to get home and start the work day. 

how did you celebrate national running day?

my run last night started great.  i managed to keep up with the woman twice my age all the way to the top of the bridge.  my head was killing me and i kept telling her i was done but she cheered me on and i made it to the top by her side.  you would think that i should have easily been able to stay by her side at that point because it was then downhill.  unfortunately, my head was pounding so badly from all of the exertion going up that i just couldn’t keep up with her any more.  i didn’t add any distance, just the basic one-lap bridge (3.2 miles).  i made it all the way down the other side, turned around, and slowed to a walk as soon as i started back up.  i was very disappointed since i haven’t had to walk any of it since march but i just couldn’t put my head through more uphill.  i didn’t even try to walk fast; it was slow, dragging my body up the incline.  i started jogging again when i got to the top and met up with hubby on my way downhill.  he turned and started back with me and made a comment about how great my pace was.  i confessed that i had only just started running again but he insisted that i was still on track for a great overall pace.  actually, i think he was right.  i finished in forty minutes.  i don’t remember if i ever timed myself on the basic once-over before but i timed a 5k once a month or two ago when running around the park and it was forty-five minutes.  the bridge is just over a 5k with inclines so i’ve got to think forty minutes was improvement for me.  just imagine if i hadn’t walked!

the bridge runners from last night, minus a few stragglers who showed up after we started running. yes, i am the only one in pants.

*NOTE:  this post was started saturday but i was too busy to get the pix and publish it.

since we’ve got folks coming over tonight, we decided it was time to finish the wall project in the living room.  i finally narrowed my sunsets down to six, got them printed and framed, and they are on the wall.  i think they look very nice (even if the prints did come out way too dark).  i still would have liked a 3×3 grid better but i couldn’t find enough frames.  i bought all of the ones here and in orlando!

for your calming pleasure, i present…

my backyard.  looks inviting, doesn’t it?  i sure would rather be down there floating around with those folks than up here working.  i heart my yard.  i love how work and worries just seem to disappear when i walk out on my balcony and look out at this.  a yard like this is great for blood pressure!

it’s been an off week for orlando visiting.   between being sick and hubby being gone, i’m just not super motivated to be social.  i’ve spent a lot of time hanging out with sissy’s family, which is always a joy.  yesterday, i finally started to feel better.  the sinuses cleared up and i coughed a lot in the morning but even that was lessened throughout the day.  last night was poker night at my cousin’s which is the night i look forward to most when i’m down here.  i am honored that stryker always shows up when we’re in town even though i hear he never shows up anymore. 

i choose to steal the pic writersblock posted because i'm so amused at all of us geeks with our laptops open while playing poker (although the pic was taken before the cards and chips hit the table)

yes, we were all partaking of our various geekyness throughout the poker game; my cousin and i played a game of scrabble on fb while taking everyone else’s poker chips (she finally won when we all went all in, with four side pots, and a bunch of nothing cards).

when i got back to my sissy’s i briefly visited with her and BIL before heading to bed where i was up until 01:00 unable to sleep.  and then i awoke out of a sound sleep right around 02:30 for a severe coughing fit that lasted until close to 04:00.  i’m sure i had the whole house awake listening to me hack up my spleen.  after coughing myself into a massive headache, raw throat, sore chest, and pulled muscle in my back, i finally broke down and took some OTC cough medicine.  within fifteen minutes i had quieted down enough to start trying again for sleep.  it was just a miserable night.  i guess hubby is lucky he wasn’t here as i would have certainly kept him awake.

i don’t think i’ve actually ranted it because that makes it real… a very important member of our family has been not-so-slowly dying for the past few months.  i’ve been sitting at the side of the deathbed wishing and willing a miraculous recovery but i’m afraid it’s nearing time to pull the plug. 

RIP canon s1is.  you will be missed greatly but go with the comfort of knowing that you have been an excellent companion and you are loved immensely.  you have travelled around the world and provided us with countless memories these last five years.  i heart you!!!

yep, i’ve gone through all the stages… i was angry when the signs of illness very suddenly appeared on 19 february:

my anger quickly led to denial… i had not dropped, moistened, or in any way abused my poor camera.  surely it was going to be okay.  it must just be a temporary bug.  afterall, it still took some fairly normal photos when it wanted to.  the pink distortion would go away with time and tenderness, right?

next came the bargaining.  i emailed the two photographers i knew to ask their opinion of the symptoms and offer a possible diagnosis.  maybe i could get it fixed well enough that i could keep it for underwater photography.  afterall, the waterproof housing cost almost as much as the camera and it sure would be nice to not have to throw it away.  i didn’t mind getting a new everyday camera… just let this one live stably enough to be used on those rare wet occasions. 

when both of my photographer friends came back with different but equally costly sounding diagnoses, they both suggested it would be better for me to just move on.  this spiraled me into depression over my dearly departing camera.  not wanting to push it to an earlier grave, i put it up in a safe place to rest.  and too sad over my loss to think of replacing it, i’d resigned myself to a cameraless fate…

i think this weekend finally moved me into acceptance.  i started seriously looking at other cameras.  well, actually, i saw one camera and haven’t been able to look past it – what can i say, i fall fast and hard.  so my frontrunner right now is the canon sx10is.  it’s a bit bigger and heavier but i’m wowed by the features.  especially the 20x optical zoom!  i’m willing to look at others if you have any comparable recommendations.  unfortunately, i don’t know what to do with my very expensive (when i bought it anyhow) and newly worthless uw housing for the s1is, but i am considering a separate uw camera this time around.  this species is much more confusing and overwhelming to me.  the olympus 1030sw seems to be my best fit so far but i’m really unsure about the whole thing.  any suggestions are welcome.

thank you, elizabeth kubler-ross, for helping me to properly grieve and move on in this difficult time.

i just walked out to the living room where hubby was hard at work.  i looked up to see this:

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my oh my, today yesterday saturday (am i ever going to finish this post and publish it?!) was a busy day!  the alarm went off at 06:00, which was definitely the low-light of the day.  especially since i actually had to listen to it and get up out of bed.  that sucked.  but, by 07:00 we were at our favorite plaza helping our running store to put on a benefit race.  it was a 5k race with proceeds going to medical costs for a ten year old girl who suffered severe burns over 80% of her body in a house fire.  the girl was there, wearing #1, but i didn’t actually see her as i was hard at work.  i helped register people and hand out bib numbers until the race started.  once it started, we worked a water booth, filling cups and handing them to the runners as they raced by.  it was so funny to see the little kids’ faces light up when they saw those water cups.  the whole thing was a lot of fun (once i got past being awake so early), especially since i didn’t have to run!  and the turnout was awesome!  they said that most local races only bring 80-100 registrants but we had over 400.  i think mello said they were able to raise about $5,000 for the little girl.  after the race was over and the awards handed out (overall winner was an out of town guy who finished in sixteen minutes or so), a few of us got together for a much needed breakfast.  we then headed back home where our friends from ga were waiting for us.  they spent a few hours hanging out on the beach and at the pool before packing up to make the long trek back to atl.  i spent quite a while making an angel food cake trifle desert to bring to the bbq that mello was hosting for all who had helped with the race.  i tried to get a thirty minute nap after our guests left and before it was time to head to mello’s but my body does not react well to being timed so it was more of an eye-resting.  the party was a blast.  there was a great turnout and i got to talk a little with everyone so it was wonderful socializing.  i love having people to hang out with again!  we need to make it happen more often.

the crowds arriving

mello being interviewed by the local news

at the start line

the overall winner

mello awarding the female overall winner