I'm the walkingest girl around. She who limps is still walking!

Let me first start by saying, I am feeling an enormous sense of satisfaction. Emotionally I feel GGRRRReat!

Physically, not so much.

What started as a nice casual 15 mile walk, turned into a rather painful 18 mile death march. Okay, maybe "death march" is a little dramatic. But just barely.

Oh, did you want to go back and read that? Yes, I said 18 miles. BigBro said to me after the walk and after we had "stretched" for a couple of minutes, that I was walking like he was after the 60 miles. Which only means to me I have a long way to go. I'm complete stoked that I was pushed to do it (note I didn't say I pushed myself - I'm not good at that), but think perhaps I did too much too soon.

Let me start at the beginning and while I can feel my fingers.

Blueberry and I started our adventure at O'dark O'clock (6AM for those who want to know) - stopped at Starbuck's - of course - and headed to meet BigBro at his house. Our "plan" was to walk with the Warming Hut Hotties who was a team BigBro had done training walks with last year. According to their email they were doing a 7 mile walk starting at Greenlake. Our "plan" was to take off from BigBro's house, walk to Greenlake (4 miles he said), walk with the Hotties for 7, take a quick little break and change our socks, then head home (4 miles).

Sounds easy enough. BigBro did give us the option of just meeting at Greenlank and only doing 11. Blue and I decided to push ourselves and try the 15. Plus BigBro promised the Hotties stop on a very regular basis and therefore we'd have plenty of resting opportunities.

So, off we went. It was a perfectly crisp morning in Seattle. The sun was already up and getting ready to warm the earth and us. It was a nice time to be out and about. The first part of the walk was, you guessed it, up hill. Why? Why does he torment me so? I know he's trying to get me in shape for 60 miles, but my god. This hill went on and on and on and on...and on. I may be exaggerating slightly, but it felt like 50 miles of up hill.

Cresting the hill and down into the "valley" to Greenlake. Stopping every so briefly at Starbucks for a potty break and water filler upper station. We still have a half mile or so to meet the Hotties.

Meeting the Hotties was a blast. Very energetic, fun loving team. All shapes and sizes showed up for this "7mile" walk. They are an extremely organized team and has a team leader who knows her stuff. Off we went.

Our first stop was a stretching stop, then up the alleged 64th Monster Hill. I had already walked up a couple of monster hills, so I was sure I was well ahead of this lot who had just started training. Pulling out my billy goat personality, up we went. I almost got light headed from the massive elevation change that took place, but I survived (again, maybe a little over exaggeration - maybe). The hill was broken into two long blocks. I marched up the first block at full speed, determined to not be the caboose of the bunch. Hitting the half way point, I couldn't breaths and decided being the caboose wasn't such a bad idea. One foot in front of the other, I made the top. Ahhh, a resting point, a Starbucks.

Catching my breath we stood out front and I realized I had been here before. This was the Starbucks near the Italian restaurant we had celebrated Blueberry's and The Groom of the Newlyweds birthday two years prior. Wait? What? I'm there! How'd I get there? Seemed to me it was miles away from Greenlake.

We look so fresh don't we? By this time we had walked just about 5 I think. I had no idea I'd be dead in 4 hours! I'm the cute one on the right - Blueberry and BigBro make up the rest of the photo.

A 15 minute stop there, and off we went. I noticed suddenly, (since I wasn't really paying attention to where we were going because we had a leader who was, well, leading) that we were in Ballard. What? Now for those of you who aren't from around here, Ballard seems like 50 miles away from Greenlake, when it's only like maybe 4 or so, but when you drive the traffic makes it seem longer. We were at a Safeway, "resting" and I kept thinking, "I've walked from Lake City (where BigBro lives) to BALLARD!" Whodathunk!

But we walked on. Next thing I know we're stopping at one of my favorite Starbucks in Freemont! Again, I'm like, "What? Freemont? That's like 40 minutes driving from Ballard." Well, it feels like it. I'm constantly stunned at how close things really are.

Our pedometers were, again, all different. We tried to fix mine so my stride was closer to Blueberrie's and BigBro's but it didn't reset like we had thought. Either was we were off again. This particular stop at Starbuck's was too long in my opinion and I was starting to cool down too much and freeze up.

Let's where was I? OH yes, Freemont. I suddenly realized that we were in a "bowl". We had come down a good size hill into Ballard, which only meant one thing. We had to hike our way out. Oh Lord! Turning left onto Wallingford Ave, BigBro says to me, "We have to get to 45th".

WHAT?

Holy Crap. How was I going to do this. I was already dead tired, now you want me to hike a half mile up hill? Right! One foot in front of the other. Breath! Breath!

BigBro stayed back with me and we chatted our way up the hill - cancel that - he chatted. I was having a hard time catching my breath let alone talk. Then before I knew it, we were at the top of the hill at a QFC! We were almost there.

Finally, we made our way back to Greenlake. BigBro had told Blue and I to bring a change of socks since at/about 10 miles you should change your socks. We took the shoes and socks off and let the cool air pass by our warm, sweaty tooties. Man, it felt soooo good. I never would have thought just switching socks would make such a difference, but it sure did. I moleskinned up as I was showing signs of blisters on the bottom of BOTH my feet. The left foot was more swollen and sore than the right for a change.

But we marched on. I was very tempted to let BigBro and Blue to head home and come back to get me. I'd just sit in the sun at Starbucks and wait. But now, I decided to be a big girl and walk with him. Hindsight, it might have been too much.

Thankfully, home meant only one relatively small hill in the beginning, and two relatively small hills to the house. Plus I could see the Stang at that point, so I knew I'd survive.

Though at a certain point, BigBro mentions there's a 7-11 on the way home, and we KNEW Hot Dogs could be found at 7-11. Oh glory day.

By this time we had been walking for 6 hours and only had a few snacks here and there. Then, there in the distance, I could see the sign. The beautifully, welcoming, recognizable sign for 7-11. It was heaven.


It's possible our theme for this adventure to walk 60 miles will be Starbucks and Hot Dogs. But OMG did it taste good.

But like I said, we made it home and ultimately, I made it home. It was a b*tch to drive a standard car when the balls of your feet are so sore that just thinking about touching them almost brings tears.

I'm sure you are all too aware that I don't do pain very well. And when it's the bottom of your feet, it's impossible to not hurt. I drugged up when I got home, took a shower, then sat my butt on the couch and soaked the tootsies (iced the left foot first as per directions from Dr. BigBro!)

The muscle pain I don't mind so much. Did you know your butt is actually a muscle? I had no idea. (kidding). The list of pains: My right hip muscle/butt muscle ached like the dickens. The back of my left knee had a crampy sore feeling to it. Both feet were sore to touch. Neck hurts due to looking down as I walk.

Oh did I mention that the Hotties walk was 8 miles, and it was closer to 5 both ways from and to BigBro's house? Yah! Do the math! Blueberrie's pedometer said 20+ miles. My pedometer said 17+. BigBro's said almost 5 because he reset it at Starbucks in Greenlake. So averaging it out and knowing what the Hotties said, we figured 18 miles. And just for the record, I take about 2900 steps per mile. That means I went around 52,000 steps.

OH.
MY.
God.

Today I feel very tired. Feet still sore as all get out. Walking is a challenge to be sure. If I could find a way to not walk on the balls of my feet I'd be fine. All the while I've been thinking, if this is what I feel like after 18 ... what will 20+ feel like. Because I tell you what? There is NO WAY in hell that I could be out walking today. I only hope that in the next 20 weeks I can build up enough endurance to not feel like this.

Pay It Forward!

Not only one of my favorite movies, but I keep it in mind when good things happen to me. Not often, but every now and then people surprise me. Today was one of those days.

First, on my way to work there was a stalled car on an off ramp blocking one of the lanes. Everyone around me was honking and going around the dead car. Not a soul bothered to call the highway patrol. So once I got around it, I called 911. Pleasant voice on the other end thanked me for reporting it and told me that too few people don't call stalled cars in and ultimately they get called for an accident! So there! I saved someone from an accident.

I parked the car and went into Starbucks (yes I was driving and talking at the same time..even funnier to me is that I was driving and talking to the highway patrol who thinks we should drive and talk). In Starbucks, there was a woman and her husband in front of me. I'm very used to standing in line at Starbucks and rarely feel that the person in front is "taking too long." This woman and her husband were buying a Starbucks gift card. Honestly, it didn't take her any longer than normal. She walks away and it's my turn to order. The clerk says, "the usual?" My response, "er um yes!" Though I'm thinking that perhaps I frequent this Starbucks too often if I 1 ) now have a usual and 2) they know it. Then the clerk proceeds to tell me that the woman in front of me paid for my coffee becaus they took too long.

I thanked the woman and her husband and told her it wasn't really necessary. And as she walked away she said, "Happy Friday!"

So now I feel like I need to Pay It Forward. Who can I be nice to?

Skippy? Yah right, like that's going to happen.

Sales in general - erm...no.

PMDude - he's already on the "be nice to" list for his donation

Blueberry? Won't see her until tomorrow and I'm not sure the "be nice" feeling will last that long

(Side bar: Not to mention we'll be attempting 15 miles tomorrow! Oh and it's going to be in the 70's. Remember last weekend? Snow! Go Figure)


The MomUnit? Can't be nice to her, she's floating in the pacific somewhere spending my inheritance.

Who then?

Act II: Scene 7: Jenn loses her mind

I feel so loved. Thank you to everyone of my avid readers who have sent me an email asking if I was okay because I've not blogged in a week. Honestly the week has been a bit of a blur and I'm trying desperately, and somewhat unsuccessfully, to cling to any bit of sanity I might have left.

First a few shout outs:

UNCLE JOHNNY & AUNT JULIA: YOUR GENEROUS DONATION WAS RECEIVED AND IS ON ITS WAY TO BEING PROCESSED. YOU ROCK! THE THREE STOOGES WOULD BE PROUD!

PMDUDE & MASTER OF THE HOUSE (WIFE): WOW! THANK YOU! YOUR GENEROSITY WAS A BIT UNEXPECTED. WAIT! WHAT? NO NOT THAT I DIDN'T EXPECT YOU TO BE GENEROUS, IT WAS JUST UNEXPECTED THAT YOU WOULD DONATE TO THAT LEVEL OF GENEROSITY. IT STILL SOUNDS LIKE AN INSULT. EITHER WAY, YOU'VE EARNED AT LEAST 5 MINUTES OF ME NOT PICKING ON YOU! YOU ROCK!

With those two donations, I've met my minimum requirement of $2,200! All together now, "WOOHOO!" What? I can't here you Jersey! WOOHOO!

And in other news....

The snow is, thank god, gone! I'd like to say that it's gone for good, but with this fictitious global (that's a joke BTW) warming thing, who knows. All I know is me and a couple million people in the Seattle area are SO ready for summer! Bring. It. On.

My stalker personality has been in a bit of a drought. The illustrious band I stalk has found themselves performing, for the last two months, for larger gigs, and more expensive gigs, than this stalker can afford. I had a moment of weakness in which I was ready to kick them to the curb, but have since come to my senses, and realize I should be okay with "sharing" them with others. Still, I'd like to state for the record, and should anyone from said FANTASTIC band be reading this blog, when will our eyes meet again? When will you be playing the same lounge songs that you are so famous for in a local that is affordable to me - your main stalker? I do believe consideration of my needs should be put in front of say, money! I'm just sayin'. Don't make me go find another band to stalk!

Ahem!

Let's see, what else.

Oh yes, the Great 40th Birthday Bash of Blueberry (try saying that 10 times fast, in heels and downing a bottle of Merlot.) Complete success. We had black balloons, too much food, not enough wine, several cupcakes in cherry chip and chocolate, and friends and family in all their glory! Blueberry's Mom and one of her sisters surprised her by coming over for the weekend to help celebrate. (MomUnit: the photo to right is with your flower/cake you sent to Blueberry. Though since your floating in the Pacific ocean, in 90 degree weather you probably don't care.) While you can't see it in the photo, Blueberry was wearing "Birthday Girl" dilly-bobbers, and a "Over the Hill" necklace provided by your's truly. Anywhooo, all participants seemed to have enjoyed themselves tremendously. A HUGE shout out to the Newlyweds for their assistance in the party planning and execution.

And with that, next topic.

I've had a relatively painful week at work. Suddenly I find myself being challenged by my own stupidity and I hate that. While I'm learning a whole lot, its stuff I wish I already knew so that I could avoid the pain. Suffice it to say, I did some miscommunicationing that caused other people pain and suffering, and for that I have this enormous guilt cloak I'm wearing. Ugh!

If a Blueberry is 40 years old, is it old?

Well Blueberry IS OLD today. HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY BLUEBERRY!!!! Forty long years she's been on this earth. And boy could I tell you a few stories. I checked my karma meter and it's pretty low so I probably shouldn't tell you those stories.

We have a big hoopla planned tomorrow to celebrate her birth some 40 years ago. Hard to believe, but I did confirm they had running water and electricity then. Several friends and family will be ascending on my cabana in black, to pay their respect for Blueberry's youth. I'll be sure to post photos from the "wild" party it proves to be. Twenty bucks says we're done and in bed by 9PM.

Do me a favor? Go to your nearest calendar. Check the date. Does your date say April 18th for today? Yah, the key word there is APRIL. Well, someone forgot to tell Mother Nature it's APRIL. Why? IT'S FREAKING SNOWING OUTSIDE! It hasn't snowed in April in 36 years here, and THIS weekend it decides to. Here's the funny thing about Seattle weather. Last Saturday it was 80 degrees. This Saturday it'll be snowing. Tonight it's supposed to get to 28 degrees for a low. The who the what now? We'll never see sun.

Wait! What was that? Thunder? Since when does it thunder and lightening when it snows. Oh holy hell, the apartment alarm was set off by that damn thunder. Pookie's under the bed and won't come out for months now. Decisions Decisions! Do I leave the apt like I'm supposed to when the alarm goes off? Or do I sit here and continue to blog? Yah, I agree. I aint' going outside in this weather.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go make cherry chip cupcakes for Blueberry's birthday cake. I'm making 40 total. Each one will have a candle. OMG, you totally believed I'd do that.

Oh and Hi Mom and Dad who are gallivanting somewhere in the Panama canal spending my inheritance.

Update: Since I posted the first time, we now have 3.5 inches of snow. WTF!

And I brought home my tulips from work and messed around with the macro lens. No too shabby!

I've Been Remiss!

So I've missed a couple shout outs to friends and family who have recently donated to me. I was doing so well shouting out when the donations came in, but now I blew it. So here's one blog for the most recent donATEERs.

UNCLE BOB & AUNT MARY - Thanks!

UNCLE DICK & COUSIN BRUCE - Danke!

SAUDI FRIENDS THE DIONISIOS - Gracias!

MOM'S GOOD FRIEND CHERYL (Who donated in honor of her mother) - Grazie!

And with that I am a small $345 away from my minimum $2200. Holy Crap! I'm still shocked and stunned at how generous people have been. I shouldn't be, but I am.

I have about 6 "verbal" promises, so I'm quite sure I'll hit my mark by the end of May if not sooner!

There are tulips in the garden; and tulips in the park...

Oh tulips. How I loath thee! I want to love them, but they just aren't cooperating this season.

I took the day off planning on driving up North to the tulip fields. Just me and my camera. Oh glory day. Saturday being almost 80 degrees here I figured that would give the tulips plenty of sun to poke their bright colorful heads out. But noooOOOO...well not all of them anyhow.

I took off this morning bright and early at 8am. I planned on getting up there and to the main garden location by the time they opened, so I could get my photos without people meandering in the background. First car in the parking lot (thought I was going to have to put the stang in 4 wheel drive in the parking lot - sheesh), first person to buy a ticket. The garden wasn't fully blooming yet, but there were enough. Set the camera up to what I thought would be a nice shot, and it doesn't work. What the...? Then I notice...I didn't have my CF memory card. Frickin Frackin! Okay, that's not what I actually said, but you get the idea. Now what? Either I drive all the way home and not bother - or I go find a camera store and buy a new CF card. I figured I needed a back up one anyhow so why not go buy one.

Find the one and only camera store around and they don't open until 9:30. Of course. Why would they be open? So I sat there for 15 minutes and pondered. By the time I decided, I noticed they were open. In I go, plunk my $$ down and I'm out the door. Funny camera guy did have to say they make a lot of $$ on people who forget things. Jerk! Thanks for reminding me.

Back to the garden, and it was crowded already. The sun wasn't shining the whole time, clouds covered it every now and then. But the darn wind was blowing. It's hard to take a close up of a tulip that's moving. Grrr....

But in the end, I think I got some decent shots. I did discover my tri-pod is too tall for closeup flower shots. It doesn't get close enough...maybe I need a new lens to get closer?

All the shots are on my Flickr site, but here are a few of my favorites.

I'm walking on sunshine WooAh

Oh my. I'm pooped, but happy, today. Yesterday BigBro took us off on a supposed 10 mile walk. It was a GORGEOUS day in Seattle. Up in the high 70's and sunny. I got slightly burnt on the face, but I don't care. It's not pasty white any more...of course this means I'll likely get a cold sore too. Oh goody. I can hardly wait for that.

We took off from Golden Gardens park which is on Puget Sound. It's a beautiful park that looks out over the water to the Olympic mountains. We stretched a bit, map in hand and we were off.

Our walk took us past the Ballard Locks. One of my favorite places to go in Seattle. It's a nice areas to watch people and watch boats come and go.

On the other side of the locks, we entered Discovery Park. In all my years in Seattle I've never been to the famous Discovery Park. I had no idea it was so huge. We were in Discovery Park for the majority of the walk. We wondered up this monstrous hill to get into the park. I thought I was going to die. But I kept my head down and kept putting one foot in front of the other. Miraculously I hit the top. Funny that. While I cursed my way up the hill, it's such a feeling of satisfaction when one reaches the top.

Once in the park we walked past this group of people doing some serious training. As we walked by one of the girls in the group yelled, "Way to go 3 Day Walkers!" which got the whole group cheering. I love that! I love it when we go out and people honk, hoot, or say way to go. Makes me realize or more appropriately remind myself why I'm doing this crazy walking thing.

At the end of the meadow, we zigged when we should have zagged and took a slight detour. BigBro had done a training walk there last year and was a little fuzzy on the path. No big. My 5 hour Energy / Aleve cocktail was kicking in, I was good to go.

Yes, I took the 5 hour Energy again. Though this time I put the 3 ounces of "berry -butt flavor" in my water. Hoping the slower consumption would not hit me as hard as the straight shooting did. And it didn't. I felt good the entire time. The hills still killed me. Though they did allow my inner mountain goat to express itself.

Anyhow, BigBro got us back on track by asking people where we were and how could we get to X on the map. The path found us in a fun little hiking trail down to the water. I was ever so thankful we were going down this path instead of up.

At the bottom we hit a trail that walked along the water front. It was beautiful. On our left were the woods, lush and green. And on our right was crystal blue water with the majestic Olympics in the back ground. Just beautiful.

The trail popped us out at a lighthouse that we stopped, took a stretch break/water break and checked the map. BigBro announces that now we get to the "hill". The hill that has been known to kill people - okay that's my drama, but my god this hill was ... well it was steep. I'm not sure how long the climb was, maybe a quarter of a mile or so. All I know is I had to stop twice to stretch out a calf that was YELLING at me and cramping....and, let's not lie, to catch my breath. I thought I was going to hyperventilate. But again, one foot in front of the other I made it to the top. While cursing the entire time up these hills, hitting the top is truly a magnificent feeling. Such accomplishment.

NeicyPoo joined us this trip too. I had to take a photo op with her since they're few and far between. so while we were stretching and watering up I snapped a quick little photo.

We wondered our way around again, not 100% sure where we going. We had the map, but it wasn't necessarily helping us. But we made it our way down the hill and back to the Locks.

Blueberry and I decided a potty break as in need. As I entered I said to Blue "I want a hot dog." Blueberry concurred and I knew a hot dog was going to be in our future. It just sounds soooo good. It might have been the sudden salt craving, but man...meat on a stick really got me to keep walking. So outside the potty we mentioned to BigBro how tasty a hot dog would be. He casually mentions that 7-11 outside the locks sells them. Well, then let's go!

Off we went to 7-11. Hot Dogs! Hot Dogs! Hot Dogs! Thankfully 7-11 did not disappoint. Three hot dogs later we were on our way. Oh man that dog hit the spot.

At the end of the walk, Blueberrie's pedometer read 13.2 miles. BigBro thinks we only went about 11. Blue swears she calibrated her new pedometer correctly, so who knows. We walked somewhere between 11 and 13. It definitely felt like more than 10. Blue and I did walk 4 point something or other today. Her pedometer said 4.12. I then clocked it with the car and it was 4.08 so I'm thinking her 13 miles might be accurate.

With yesterday's walk and today's that puts me over 160 training miles! WooHoo!

Tomorrow is my day of rest. I'm taking the day off to go up north for the tulip festival. The weather is questionable, but I really don't care. All I know is I won't be at work.

Don't Want to be in Public, My head is full of Chapstick

If you know that song without googling, I'll give you a big kiss...maybe. Here I'll give you a hint. See photo.

TWO HUGE SHOUT OUTS TO MAKE:

1) TO: THE RANDOM CO-WORKER WHO SHOCKED THE H*LL OUT OF ME WITH HIS DONATION- YOU ROCK.

2) TO: THE OLD FAMILY FRIENDS FROM OUR SAUDI DAYS: WOW! I'M SO GLAD MOM SUGGESTED I GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATION. IT PUT ME OVER THE $1500 MARK.

I've had a lot of odds and ends on my mind this week and am not so sure where to begin, so I'll just start typing. This could be trouble.


While I still very much love my job, I'm at that point with the company where I'm starting to feel very naive about believing they were interested in change. One person wanting change can't do a darn think without the support of many, and or management. I'm sure we're no different than any other small company out there who has the desire to play with the big boys, but still lags painfully behind in the knowledge of "how" to maintain our internal "big boys" feeling. I'm a process improvement person at heart. I love the idea of fixing something that will make the bottom line cleaner and the trip to the bottom line more efficient. I know several others who share this feeling, but trying to get management to agree to improvements is like pulling teeth. I'm not an exec and I don't pretend to even understand what they have to deal with in keeping this company they success it is. But if they'd give even a single minute to thinking about improving just a one or two internal systems, I'm sure they'd see the overall benefit. But I fear this will never happen and so I'll continue to be frustrated and continue to pound my head against the wall to maybe get even a little teeny tiny change.


That got me thinking about change in general and how people are so adverse to it. I was in a seminar a year or so ago that talked about change. The speaker compared a person going through change as similar to a person going through the grieving process. There's anger, uncertainty, sadness, and a few others, to eventually get to acceptance. Once they reach acceptance, they can move on and embrace the change. I remember sitting there wondering why anyone would be adverse to change. It never dawned on me at that point that change could be negative (as in losing your job or your marriage dissolving). I'm more convinced than ever that change is a necessary evil. Good or bad, there's a reason for it and it should be embraced. Which brings me back to the company being less than accepting of change.


Every time I've suggested a change, I've been beat down pretty hard by some folks that now I fear I'm hitting the point in which I feel like, "why bother?" I don't want to be complacent. I know this company can be greater than it already is...I just need to find the strength to get past my frustration and be the stellar PM I know I can be.

I also feel less than adequate of late because the hammer is coming down on how we manage projects. While I am glad because that means I'm learning, the sneaky little devil of insecurity is creeping in and making me question my abilities. And of course, it makes me wonder if they're going to fire me. The thing is I know I'm a good worker. Sure I can improve on a good lot of things, and I feel I am improving, but I can't help but wonder.


But in other more exciting news, last night on the drive home at mach 1, I decided that it might be time to give love a chance. Again.

RUTROW!

The names in the following story have not been changed to protect the not so innocent.

The following conversation took place April 7th at approximately 6pm. My cell phone rings, well actually it doesn't ring it plays Mustang Sally. What? As if there's any other song for my phone.

Jenn: Hello?

Voice on the other end: Jenn? (pant pant)

Jenn: Blueberry?

Blueberry: Jenn, I think I'm lost.

Jenn: Where are you? (dumbest question ever award goes to...)

Blueberry: I started walking from my condo and turned right went up Jefferson (at this point Jenn has tuned slightly out) and crossed over 99 and am trying to get to 164th.

Jenn: Well, give me some landmarks.

Blueberry: There's a Safeway and a Starbucks.

(I think, "Hmmm, that narrows it down in Seattle.)

Jenn: Are you walking?

Blueberry: Yes, I left my condo turned right and walked down 148th. I crossed 99 and expected 148th to turn into 164th.

Jenn: Ahh, Blue, 148th runs parallel to 164th. It won't EVER run into it. Now, where are you exactly?

Blueberry: On 148th.

At this point, it should be noted that I think I have an idea where she is, but I'm having way too much fun to give in. Oh, and it should also be noted that it's pouring rain outside.

Jenn: And so what do you want from me?

Blueberry: Well, um, er, um, do you know how I get home?

Jenn: Backtrack. 148th will not run into 164th so turn around and go back.

Blueberry: So I'm soaking wet. My shoes are wet, my pants are wet.

Jenn: Do you want me to come and get you? Because I need to know now. I have rice cooking on the stove and need to know whether to turn it off or not.

Blueberry: Would you mind?

My thought, "Would I mind? Let's see. It's pouring rain outside. I have dinner cooking on the stove. I'm in my PJs ready to settle in for the night...I might mind."

Jenn: Okay, now where are you?

Blueberry: (she sounds slightly frustrated at this point) There was a Safeway and a Starbucks up on 99.

Jenn: Is there a Taco Bell across the street.

Blueberry: I don't remember.

Note: Do you see? Do you see why it's fun to play with her?

Jenn: I think I know where that is. Turn around. Walk back to Safeway and I'll meet you there.

Blueberry: Okay.

So I got in the stang, drove out to pick her up and giggled the entire way. She had walked and got lost. She thought she knew where she was. She thought the road she was on would cross another road she knew of. Though she didn't realize they run parallel. Directions aren't her strong suit.

BIG SHOUT OUT TO MOM'S FRIEND GINNIE FOR HER GENEROUS DONATION!!!!!

I've not written about an update to the adventure of 2008 of late, but suffice it to say, things are still going well. I've walked a total of 145 training miles to date. By the time all is said and done, if I stay to the to the training schedule, I will have walked 765 training miles. Oy vei. That makes me tired just thinking about it.

"Any Man with a Uterus is a Woman"

The quote of the night. It's a very long story, but suffice it to say that during my little dinner party last night the conversation moved to this guy/girl combo who's pregnant. The discussion quickly went down hill, but the quote of the night goes to The Groom of the Newlyweds - see title.

Last night was yet another VERY successful - if I don't say so myself - dinner gathering. Sometimes I think I must have been a chef in a previous life. I so love cooking. I really need to find someone to cook for on a permanent basis. My +1.

The menu last night was:
Spicy Szechwan Chicken - without the chicken. I used flank steak instead. ZOMG that recipe is so dang good.

Szechwan Green beans - Yah so I couldn't find enough good looking green beans to make enough for 6 people. So I tossed in some baby carrots and snap peas. Delicious. A bit spicy, but hey, who doesn't like spice?

Mashed potatoes with cream cheese - not Asian I know. But I've had this recipe for years and finally decided to test it out. Just okay. It needed more garlic. Oh wait, it didn't have any garlic, no wonder I didn't like it.

Blueberry brought her famous Chinese Salad...though I think it's titled Oriental salad, and I'm trying to be more PC by calling it Chinese. Though I suppose it could be Asian. Who knows. Who cares. All I know is I had to stop some guests from licking the bottom of the bowl.

Dessert was angel food cake, ice cream, and strawberries - courtesy of the newlyweds. They thought I was odd to ask for my cake on the side. No I don't want ice cream and strawberries messing up angel food cake. Making is all moist...sick! No moist cake! Ick!

We managed to drink our way through 3 bottles of wine - which helped my overstocked wine rack. Now at least all the wine I own fits on the rack and I don't need to buy a second. Darn it! Cuz I found one I really REALLY like.

Yesterday, Blueberry and I managed to walk a whole 5 miles. Her foot is still healing (did I mention she stepped on a screw last weekend?) and so she didn't think she could go on. So at 4.8 miles in an attempt to avoid a scary man dressed in a cow outfit we ducked into Elmer's and had breakfast. Full bellies, we walked the additional .2 miles home. By then I was knackered and just wanted to not walk anymore. Yesterday's walk takes me to 145 training miles, I think. I might have missed a mile or two. Today was just cross training. The weather is questionable and I thought crosstraining was more my speed considering the wine haze I woke up with. Oh and the pile of dishes waiting to be done.

I went grocery shopping today for the week and I gotta tell you people are absolutely stupid. See being all perfect and everything, I feel I can say such things. There was this - I think woman though the jury's still out - in front of me in line who absolutely refused to run her debit card through the debit card reader to pay for her groceries. She "demanded" the cashier run it. After about 3 minutes of the cashier trying to explain to Crazy that it was the same reader, the cashier took her card and I kid you not, ran it through the SAME machine she wouldn't run it through. She said nothing. No complaint no nothing. Seemed to be completely fine with it. Then the cashier asked her to put in her "super secret security code". And instead of typing it in, she TOLD the cashier and the line her "super secret security code". If I were the type to steal a person's identity I could have been Crazy in 2.5 seconds. But wait, it gets better. I know. You're asking yourself how, right? So Crazy stood at the end of the counter and revisited every single item on her receipt, checking it off that they were in a bag. Mostly unloading bags as she went. I was super speedy, paid for my stuff, and squeezed past Crazy to go to Starbucks. What? It's right there, I couldn't resist. Crazy followed me. As I stood waiting for my coffee, I watched Crazy slide her card through the debit card reader at Starbucks. I just don't get some people. Maybe she thought the other one was possessed or something. Or maybe, just maybe her meds kicked in. I'm just sayin.

Okay, I'm done rattling on and providing the few religious readers I have - who have been bugging me to post I might add - with something to do for a minute or too. Now I have to get back to whatever it was I was doing before I got distracted by this big shiny computer screen.

Supinating Pronating Beast

Yes mam, that would be me. I'm a super-pronating BEAST! Or at least my shoes are.

This morning was the first of the Expo's for the 3Day. Super Jock&Jill (my new favorite store) had a shoe expo in which they chatted about feet, supinating, pronating etc. Did you know that everyone supinates and pronates? It's just a matter of to what degree. I was pleasantly surprised to find out, officially, that I'm "average". And that in this rare case you don't want to be above average. Yay me!

Two hours later and $165 I walked out of Super Jock&Jill with ONE more pair of kickass shoes, two pairs of kick ass socks, a blister pack, and a tube of Nuun. The shoes purchased were the second runner up when I bought the last shoes. They are ubber support, almost like walking in ski boots, and oh so comfy. They are Brook's - like the first pair - and are called Beast. Yes, that's right. Because I'm a walking BEAST in them. I got an extra discount on mine because they were "last year's model" - and mine are highlighter green. Oh and I should mention that mine are actually a woman's shoe. And being a feminine shoe Brook's decided Beast was too manly apparently and so call the woman's version Ariel. But see, that's just doesn't strike fear in the pavement like BEAST does. GRRRR!

Oh sweet mama that shoe is awesome. After the Jock&Jill experience, Blueberry and I pondered whether to walk or not. See, lucky Seattle has been hit by a "Spring Snowstorm." Yes, you read that correctly, it's snowing. Snow fell yesterday for about 2 hours. Didn't really stick though - thank god - or the Stang and I would have headed home early. Today it was butt cold. And if you're wondering how cold is butt cold, well, let's just say for us Seattle types, it was cold. And so Blue and I debated. But since we both had new shoes on - or at least I was wearing the BEAST - we decided a quick trip around Greenlake wouldn't be bad, and after that we'd decide. I shivered my way around and then pulled the pansy card, and said, "Let's do lunch."

Tomorrow though is supposed to be nicer. We plan on 10 miles tomorrow weather permitting. Neither one of us want to walk in the wet, icky, cold weather. Though even as I type this it's snowing outside, so who knows.

Tomorrow is also PhotoSafari day. Though non of my co-safari-ites are going to join me in this great adventure. This month's "theme" is night time. Little hard in the northwest since it gets dark later now, but I'll manage. Again, weather permitting, I'm heading to a bridge that overlooks one of our major freeways and will test my skill at fast moving cars and streaking lights. And maybe I'll throw in a few snowflakes for fun.

Hello Old Friend

This past weekend I picked three very lucky recipes out of the recipe bowl. You know I speak so frequently about this bowl, I think I'll go take a picture.

Now, where is the camera?

Ah yes, in the fanny pack for walking. What? Isn't that where you put your camera?

DOH, no card. Where's the card? Why would the card not be in the camera? Oh yah, it's in the Pink Laptop.

Right, okay back to the picture. Anyhow, as you can see the bowl is really an oversized brandy snifter (and oh my god - dirty - ick).

Anyhow, this past weekend I chose three lucky little recipes to make this week. The first was the Spanish Chicken and Rice. While one of my favorite recipes, I must not have been paying attention while cooking because it didn't turn out so good. Still good, but not as good as I remember. Hmmm, makes me wonder if my "favorite" is another recipe? Huh! The second recipe was Steak Teriyaki. Good, but I over did the ginger on it.

So the last was Spicy Szechwan Chicken. ZOMG so good. First, it wasn't spicy. Second, it was, OMG so good. Did I already say that? I tried, I honestly tried to follow the recipe. But see I have this birth defect (thanks Mom) that causes me to "change it up" as I cook. This particular case wasn't so much as me adding things as it was I didn't have the "correct" ingredients so I improvised. Which if you check out my "other" blog, you'll see what I mean.

The point to this entire blog, yes there is a point - albeit probably not a great point, is this weekend's shopping trip was to Central Market.

I had made a habit of Sunday morning trips to Central Market for grocery shopping. I don't find their prices any higher than any other place. The store is laid out PERFECTLY, and smartly. I stop at Starbuck's for my elixir of life, then cross the parking lot to shop. I generally have a list and generally take my time. It's a glorious trip. My sanctuary, every Sunday.

Then I started training for the 3Day - which by the way is going great, thanks for asking. That meant that Saturday was for walking and Sunday was for all the things I didn't do Saturday. And somehow shopping never made that list. I missed my trips to Central Market. So this past Sunday I revived my spirit and went. It was like coming home. It was like visiting a long lost friend. It so reminded me I need a life.

PS - The Spicy Szechwan Chicken was DELICIOUS!

Thanks for Stopping by...now leave!

XXXCrush stopped by in my dream last night. He and his arrogant self stopped by to inform me he was moving to Colorado but before he left he'd help me water my tomatoes.

What? I can't explain dreams.

I can, however, control them. Way...Back...When...in college I took part in a dream study. It was $100 for a three month study. $100 was a lot to a beer depraved college student. I, of course, immediately too the money and bought beer paid mom off. More importantly the study was to see if we could control our dreams.

I have a very personal, close relationship with my dreams and generally remember them. I even think I dream in color, but that can be argued. Anyhow, after several months I was able to control what happened in a dream. If I didn't like the dark shadowy path I was wondering down, I'd tell myself to take a left and it'd be all sunshine and bunnies.

Lately I've been watching The War by Ken Burns. I'm not a huge WWII fan, but I am a European history fan. And while I realize, thanks for pointing it out, that this film is the US side of the house, there's a lot of history to be seen/heard about in this film. I just finished disc 3 last night. I did 5 hours of disc 1 and 2 on Sunday night. Consequently I'm dreaming about WWII. I'm not actually in the war, but rather a by stander floating above it watching it.

Last night I was yelling at some soldier to not go in a building. I can remember consciously thinking he'll die if he goes in. But if I dream of something else, he won't. So I switched gears. I didn't think about the XXXCrush, it just happened. I just wanted to dream about anything else, but this poor kid potentially dying.

Anyhow, if you've not seen this film and you're a fan of history, I highly recommend it. It really is quite well done and WOW the things I'm learning.

Thanks Easter Bunny! Brahck! Brahck!

Happy Easter everyone. I'm celebrating the day in a not so traditional way. I'm having Spanish Chicken and Rice for dinner. YUM! It's a recipe I've mastered over the years and I thought it sounded delicious for today. It's all wet and drippy outside, so it's the perfect comfort food.

It's been a long and very enjoyable weekend. We got Friday off for Good Friday. Not a common holiday I don't think to have off here in the US, but I'm not complaining. Our UK compadres had Friday and will have Monday off. Which means work will be Q-U-I-E-T! Yay Quiet!

Friday I hung out at home and did homebody stuff like cleaning and watching really bad afternoon TV. Then BigBro showed up and we managed to walk 5 miles (5.18 to be exact) around the lovely hood. It was a nice little walk and so glad I got out.

Then Saturday, we had no "team" walk planned so I figured I could go out on my own. The sun was shining, and the route BigBro and I took Friday could be altered to stop at a Starbuck's. So off I went. Before I went though, I decided to try those 5 hour Energy shot thingys. After gagging it down, berry flavored my butt, I sat and patiently waited for it to kick in. I knew that 10 miles would take me 4 hours give or take, so I took it about 30 minutes before I planned on walking. Within minutes I was hopping up cleaning stuff, and feeling very energized. Strapping on the shoes, I was off. Shin splints be damned, I couldn't stop. I felt so much energy it was quite frightening and I couldn't help but wonder if that was what being on crack was like. I managed 10 miles with a 15 minute stop at a Starbucks to rest and do other things. I didn't end up getting ANY coffee because I didn't think my heart could stand it.

I made it home in what I considered record time for a 10 mile walk and realized I had to get ready to go to a friends house for a spring gathering. Hopping in the shower I was still all jittery. It was as if I had several shots of espresso (but it tasted worse). Off to The Newlyweds for a spring festival. My hands were shaking, I was talking 50 MPH, and I couldn't sit still. I drank gallons of water hoping that would help. Then a glass or two, or three of wine. Then as if a clock chimed inside, I hit a wall. I could barely stand and realized that apparently the 5 hr energy had finally wore off. I didn't feel like myself, but felt like I had run a marathon. Deciding to pack it in for the evening, I managed to make it home and fell into bed and asleep with no effort. 12 hours later I awoke to Easter. TWELVE HOURS! I never sleep that long.

Moral of the story, I wouldn't recommend the 5 hour energy drink unless you plan on being busy and full of energy for 6+ hours. I took it at noon and by 7 it wore off. I guess I got my bang for my buck.

On another front, I'm not sure I mentioned that the old computer completely died. Stupid me didn't take my 1200 recipe database off the old computer. And now I can't seem to get it to run without over-writing the hard drive altogether. Which means adios to that database. So on a whim, I thought I'd try to load the recipe software I've been using on my new pink Vista machine. The company who made this lovely recipe software said it won't run on Vista, so I didn't bother. Well, guess what...it does! Yes mam. It does! I spent a good part of today already fishing through the printed recipes I have and see that only about 300 aren't printed. That's a lot, but not as bad as I thought. So now I've started the long process of inputting them all into the new database. And yes, I'm backing this one up (on my new pink external hard drive of course).

So with that, I have recipes to enter. Which of course makes me hungry. Maybe I'll have an early dinner tonight.

WooF!

No really. It's official. I have no life. I'm the worlds biggest dork. And OMG I'm in love.

As I sit at home tonight I decided to watch a few reruns I had taped. You won't believe me when I tell you I watched this again.

Hang on! There's no way you watched that entire preview that quickly.

Go Back.

Watch it again!

And Again.

Right, now you see what I'm talking about.

Oh.

My.

God.

I'm so in love with this car. I swear to Dog I was sitting, again, on the edge of my seat with the remote control in my hand. Fast forwarding to the car scenes. Stopping. Drooling. Fast forwarding. Rinse, lather, repeat.

I think I might need a cold shower.

What? As if you didn't drool! I must go now. I need to go stalk a car.

By the way, in case you're wondering, and you know you are, this is a Shelby GT 500KR. 540 HP 5.4 L Supercharged V8. WOOF!

I try to discover, A little something to make me sweeter

PMDude marvels, yes I said marvels, at my ability to come up with what he calls bad songs and get them stuck in my head. Random songs too that really don't have anything to do with whatever the conversation is, but something that is said reminds me of a song.

Case in point, the title of this blog. I was recounting a story - which I'll recount shortly - to a friend via email, and for some reason this song popped in my head. The video should come with a warning: "Serious 80's Ahead - Proceed with caution."

As if you need yet another example, or look into my mind, yesterday PMDude said I was a dreamer. So what song popped in my head? This one. What? Didn't you think of that? The best part, it got stuck in his head.

Right. The story.

So a couple of weeks ago when BigBro took us on the 9+ mile walk through the streets of Seattle, I craved a Dairy Queen blizzard later that evening. And by "crave" I mean, I could NOT get the thought out of my head. It's nagged at me and nagged at me like a little door knocker being overused in my head.

I did, of course, what any person training for a 60 mile walk would do. I hopped in the car, reset the mile clocker thingy-ma-bob, and hit the road. 1.5 miles later I was at Dairy Queen. Waiting not so patiently in the freakin line for my blizzard. Actually, I should state the line wasn't long, but all the rejects from the DQ world are sent to this particular store to "take their time" making ice cream joy. Anyhow, on the way home I thought, "Wow, just 3 miles to DQ. I could walk there. Get my blizzard. And walk back with little to no guilt."

Speaking of guilt, this song popped in my head. It's a curse. I know.

What is...116 and 13 years of goodness?

Why, my weekend in review of course.

116 is the total number of training miles I've clocked since January. BigBro and I walked somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 miles. There's some difference between his pedometer and mine, so I'm guessing on this. I was tired and I could feel the walk in the back of my right knee. But significant stretching, lots of water and a little nap, I was good to go.

Then as if that wasn't enough, I got up - not early by any stretch of the imagination, which I'll get into in a bit, and I walked 5 more miles today.

Its amazing to me to think that I walked 10 miles. In December of last year if you would have asked me that, I never would have imagined myself getting out and pounding the pavement. The funny thing now is, walking a mile, or two, or three just seems silly. Simply no effort really, and doesn't really tire me out. At 6 miles, I can start to feel it. I definitely need to consider stretching some more during the walk. Somewhere between 6 and 9 miles I think I need a little break. I was hurting by the time we hit BigBro's house yesterday, which I'll blame on a lack of water and stretching. But if I were to stop and rest for 5 minutes I think I would have felt good.

After a long, hot shower, a quick little nap, I dressed myself to go celebrate 13 years of Dudley Manlove goodness. They combined St. Patty's dat with their celebration, and not once last night did they mention their anniversary. No big I guess. I've been going to their shows for 10 years now. Which is hard to believe, but it's true. It's been fun watching them change their songs up and add a few opening acts here and there.

Their "opening act" last night was, well, not all that. In fact, I had to video tape them because no one would believe me if I told them it was an Irish Folk band. Now for the theme of St. Patty's day, they fit. Dudley fans, they did not fit.



Aside from the opening act, VikingGirl and Mark/Vanessa joined. HikerGirl and her new man bailed on us. Hmph! VikingGirl was a Dudley virgin and had her reservations when she saw the Haggis Brothers. Her eyebrow shot up with a very questioning tone in it. But by the end of the night, she was officially a Dudley Fan. My work here is done.

Dudley went into the old Dudley coffers and pulled out some of their very old songs that they've done for years. Songs like, What's New Pussy cat?(Tom Jones), Me and Mrs Jones (not my favorite song, but I love Paul's voice when he sings it. Incidentally, Mr. Michael Buble does a pretty damn good job too.), If Could Read My Mind (Gordon Lightfoot) - Dudley speeds this one up quite a bit too, and even Joey Scarbough's Greatest American Hero theme. (Shut up! You know you know the words to that song.)

December 1963 is one of my FAVORITE songs. Yes, it's a Franki Valli song, but it's fun and really quite nasty if you understand the lyrics.

The crowd exploded when Dudley did this song. With the flashy lights and the sounds of people talking, it totally reminded me of prom. If you listen closely, you can hear the entire crowd singing along. ( And the distortion in the sound would me and my dumbness. I discovered the microphone on my camera is right where I put my finger to hold the camera. So it sorta covered it part of the time. Sorry. I'll do better next time.) And you can't see it very well in the video, but Paul was holding up a lighter...ahhh memories. We did notice no one else in the crowd really had lighters, but we all had cell phones.

And finally, they closed their show with their standard closer, Suspicious Minds. We were up on a balcony watching the show this time - actually thankful we weren't down front - so from up above, I thought it was fun to watch the entire crowd bounce at the same time.

And my destination makes it worth the while; Pushing through the darkness still another mile

You get big kudos if you know what song that's from. You'd have to be alive and functioning in the 70's to appreciate it. PMDude will just roll his eyes at the song choice. (Can we say Holy Lip Syncing?)

Right! So....

Friday couldn't have come at any better time. Man what a week. Firs week in the new office has proven to be most pleasant though. PMDude might be questioning wanting to "office-mate" up with me since I'm not afraid to share all the random thoughts and songs that pop into my head now. He'll survive!

Speaking of surviving, I spent a significant time last night sending letters out requesting donations. I've been very tempted to not send to a few people I have in my linked in list because I've not actually corresponded with them for some time. They were all people who have played a significant role in my career development - positively or negatively doesn't matter. Some were friends once, but life and lack of desire from their part to stay in contact with me has put them in the "no need to contact" list. Still, I sent the letters. I caveatted it with the fact I was putting shame aside and hitting anyone and everyone to help find a cure. And with that....

HUGE SHOUT OUTS TO ....

Former CatShack boss and his two fantastic little dogs Punch and Sulli. You Rock! As do your dogs. I had no idea your dogs were so financially secure.

For shizzle R.Tizzle....Despite the fact you're an Oregon DUCK A HUGE THANK YOU for your donation!

D - "The Topic is..." THANK YOU SOOO MUCH! We really should keep in touch more.

These donations have put me at a kick ass $1230 in donations ... and it's only March.

I also sent an email to all of work personnel too. Stressful! My god, hitting send was hard. I'm not a big fan of sending emails to "all" at work. No bites there yet, but I'm sure there are a few who will donate.

I also sent an email to the boys of Dudley Manlove. Well, one boy anyhow. Also stressful. I played the "I've been coming to see you all for 10 years now..." card. I requested if they would consider our team setting up a booth at one of their shows and collecting donations. And in lieu of that, donating themselves. We'll see. I'm not holding my breath. But so far, every single person who has donated to me has shocked me with their generosity. And I mean "shocked" in a good way, not in a finger in the light socket sort of way.

I had several topics to discuss today, but they've all seemed to have left my little pea brain. As soon as I hit publish I'll remember. So maybe I'll hit save and see if that works. Hold on.

Nope...nothing.

BigBro and I are "planning" on 9-10 miles tomorrow. It's dependent on the weather. Sounds funny maybe, but I have no desire to walk 10 miles (3 hours) in pouring rain. I bought some mole skin today to put on the blister point on the bottom of my foot. One would think that one's foot would be calloused enough now by one's commitment to walking. But NoooOOOoooo! This is not my foot for the record, but this is what it'll look like tomorrow.

This morning something wonderful happened. I found that all the clothing I had that fit was dirty. Okay well not ALL of it, but the stuff I like to wear. With horror I realized I had to go to the "other" side of the closet. All women know of that side. The side in which clothes you one day want to fit back into live. Yah, so I pulled a pair of pants out that fit, but were a tad uncomfortable to wear (too tight in the waste). I was again "shocked" when they fit and were loose. YeeHAW! This walking thing is sure helping in the clothing department.

BTW iTunes bugs the !#$%^& out of me. It is my nemesis. I moved over my songs from the old computer and apparently a few of the songs were authorized already on up to 5 computers. I deauthorized all the songs, and yet they won't play. Discussing this madness with iTunes they said, so sorry, those songs were bought using a different account ...IF I could get to that computer I could deauthorize the songs. Right. Like I can remember which computer in my past has those songs on it. So, smart girl that I am, I thought "I'll show you iTunes." and I pulled out all the back up cds I had made. Hah...so there. Well, except NONE of those blasted songs made it to the back up CDs. iTunes: 1 Jenn: 0! There are about 250 songs lost. Some I think I have on other CDs I've burned, but not all. GRRRRR!

Um....WTF?

And this from PhotoGirl today.

I'm not even sure how to comment on it. I'm, (how do you say?), speechless.

That would be Miss Ambassador to you!

No need to courtesy. No need to bow. I'll still be the same old Jenn. Just an ambassador. I'll be signing autographs later.

Earlier this week I was contacted by what appears to be the PR firm for the 3Day. Through web searches they found my blog and read all the wonderful and motivational things I've written about the 3day and my journey. From there they thought I'd be an excellent ambassador for the 3day. They were looking for walkers who would be willing to share their story with the media. Newspapers, TV, radio apparently look to interview participants about the event, and I quote, "bringing it to life these Ambassadors are our best resource." I filled out their form, and waited patiently for an "approval". I wasn't sure if I was applying for it and it had to be reviewed, or if it was a sure thing. I chose to not write about it at the time for fear of jinxing it. And yes, I am that powerful.

So today, I got an email back from them welcoming me as an ambassador. I'm royal. I think.

Anyhow, it's quite a nifty little set up they have. They have online tools that help with getting media coverage, and tips for interviewing etc. As I was reviewing their stuff I thought, hah, this is just the thing to do for when the Saving 2nd Base team decides to do a fundraising event. We can call the media. Get the coverage for the 3day and maybe get more donations to find a cure. Everyone loves a good human interest story. I'd like to be sure we can give them a happy ending too and eradicate breast cancer (or all cancer for that matter).

The best part of the email from this PR rep was as follows: "I suspect you won’t be shy about sharing your story since you’re so open about it on your blog." Who me?

Now if you'll excuse me, my public awaits. Well, okay a project schedule awaits, but it's close!