Run Catastrophe Cathy Run

I was a big runner in high school. I did cross country, track and even ran throughout the summer just to get ready for the next season. Thankfully I outgrew this crazy period in my life and found some more fun sports to do. But just to remind myself how far I’ve come and how slow I’ve gotten, I tend to do a few 5K runs each year.

As part of this self inflicted torture I signed up for the Corporate 5K run yet again this year. It’s a fun event where I get to run through the ghetto with 10,000 of my closest friends. I would never feel safe running there alone or even with 100 of my closest friends but somehow it becomes ok when the number of runners out numbers the number of drug dealers by a factor of two.

I didn’t set a personal best this year but I had a decent time of 28:53 thanks to pacing with a friend of mine. The real fun was after the race since I got to play football in the citrus bowl, have cartwheel and piggy back races with my friend’s kids and do silly dancing moves for all to see. I guess the endorphins had kicked in at this point since I didn’t feel a thing when I was piggy backing my 180 pound friend! At least there is something good that comes out of running.


Cat “I do not choose to run” Cathy

Build A Better Mouse Trap And You Will Catch More Mice....Duh

Yesterday I spent the afternoon checking traps for mice and other small mammals. There were no small mammals to be found but the traps did catch a spider and a lizard and I had the added fun of pulling two ticks off of me. You may wonder what this has to do with my chosen career as a petroleum cleanup engineer. The answer is absolutely positively nothing. I just heard of this opportunity and thought it might be a fun experience and a good chance to learn something new.

Stepping outside the box of my normal daily grind is not a new thing for me. I’ve always volunteered for extra curricular activities at work including demonstrating a 1½ million dollar prototype hydrogen fuel cell car, being a science fair judge and doing a controlled burn. A controlled burn would be a dream job for a pyromaniac since it involves purposely setting a forest on fire. What do you suppose Smokey the Bear would say about this? “Only you can cause forest fires, only you”! It doesn’t sound very environmental but I learned of the many benefits it has while I was choking on the thick black smoke.

So the idea of doing something outside my normal career path is not unusual for me. I recommend this approach to everyone. Next time you have the opportunity to try something different give it a chance. You never know what you will learn, who you will meet and what fun you will have. After all variety is the spice of life! The worst thing that can happen is you remove a few ticks, have a funny story to tell your friends and a little bit more knowledge to carry with you on your journey through life.

Cat "eeks a mouse" Cathy

Casual Friday is now PJs Friday

My office allows me to work pretty much whatever hours and whatever days I want as long as I get 80 hours every two weeks. I’ve always just worked the standard five 8-hour days. I live close to work, I’m a social animal and my downtown apartment is just barely bigger than my office so the thought of working alone at home never really appealed to me. Until today that is.

For some reason I started looking at it differently this morning. I decided that not having the 15 minute commute and being able to work in my PJs or even nekkid if I liked was appealing. After all, my birthday suit is 40 now so I want to get as much use out of it as I can before it gets too raggedy! Plus my office is located in the ghetto and since I’m not shopping for crack, guns or a new boyfriend I don’t really like being there. I find all the sirens and drive bys to be a little distracting too.

So now I’m really looking forward to one day a week in beautiful downtown Orlando. I can work faster on my new high speed home computer and I will have so many options for lunch including working out at the gym, running around the lake and going out to lunch with my many friends who work downtown. I think this will be a nice little change in my weekly schedule and I’m proud of myself for rethinking the idea and giving it a chance. So I guess the moral of this story is to keep your options open and try it before you knock it. Unfortunately due to scheduling issues I still have to wait a month to start PJs Friday but I’ll keep you posted.

Cat Cathy

The Big 4-0 Birthday Bash….One for the Record Books!

The Big 4-0 birthday bash has come and gone. A big thanks to all who attended and made this day special! Thanks to my boyfriend who has an awesome party pad and went all out with catering, fireworks and a huge sign in the front yard! Thanks to Jenn and Tracy who did an awesome job decorating! We had bubble makers, water balloons and other fun toys. It was perfect for me since I’m a kid at heart and I’m glad they realize that about me.

Even the record setting rain storms couldn’t dampen my spirit…no pun intended there. It was my birthday and I was going to have fun. I drank Tracy's special pina coladas. My gifts were totally appropriate for a tom girl or sporty spice - A trip to Jamaica, balloons, rock climbing shoes and food gift cards. Some of the highlights were the fireworks, midnight drunken jet skiing and standing in the rain by the Happy Birthday sign in the front yard at 2 am getting passing cars to beep! I’m not sure if they were beeping to congratulate me or to keep me out of the road but it was fun either way. So while I am growing older I am definitely not growing up and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Take a chance and be silly today. Life is a lot more fun that way!

Cat "Over the Hill" Cathy

Roses for your piano…Tulips for your organ

I set a new personal record yesterday. Seeing as I’m into sports you may think I ran my fastest 5K or got a better batting average but this is a different PR. Yesterday I received the most roses in one day. My boyfriend sent me 40 roses for my upcoming 40th birthday. “Ahhh how sweet”, “girlfriend you better marry him” and “looks like someone’s in love” were just some the many comments I heard from my coworkers yesterday for the overwhelmingly big arrangement taking up half my desktop.

The 40 roses blew away my previous record of 24 when I received a dozen roses each from two suitors on Valentine’s Day many years ago. Of course I wanted to thank my boyfriend in my normal manner….hot sex! Kidding…..well…. maybe not. Ooh la la! But since I was still at the office I just sent him an email in my normal silly fashion. We work for the same organization and I occasionally send him emails about problems at work. So I sent him one with the subject: Big Work Problem! Then I proceeded to say I can’t get any work done since my desk is covered in roses. First there is no room for my reports, second everyone who passes by has to say something, third there is this pleasantly distracting odor and finally all the women want my boyfriend now so I have to fight them off!

Today I’m still getting people stopping by to smell my roses and congratulating me. I’m not really sure congratulations are in order since all I did was have a birthday but it’s nice to socialize with everyone. Plus I guess it’s a bit of a surprise that I made it to the ripe old age of 40 with all my sports injuries including 2 concussions…one of which I have on video and the other which involved a $2,000 no expenses paid trip to the ER.

So romance is alive and well. I don’t think extravagant gifts like this are necessary to show you care for someone but they sure are nice! I hope you take the time to do something for that special person in your life. Muah.

Cat "Roses are Red" Cathy

April Fool

I love playing practical jokes so a day dedicated to that is perfect for me. Plus it’s only 4 days before my birthday so my whole life I’ve been told I was born 4 days late. This year my boyfriend emailed me that he had to go to Washington for a week and we were going to have to cancel my big 4-0 birthday bash. Well I knew right away that it was an attempt at an April Fools joke so I said “why don’t you just fly everyone up there or let us trash your house while you are gone. Oh, and by the way I’m pregnant”! (FYI - we’ve haven’t slept together yet). To which he replied “well, you do sleep soundly . . .”. Of course, I had to come back with “I could be mean and say I’m not surprised I didn’t feel anything”. It was a fun little exchange but I’m not sure who won this round. Let me know what you think. And take a chance and play the fool today!

Cat "It's a girl" Cathy

I'm Alive!!!!

After having the worst flu ever known to man or at least to me, I've learned one thing: Healthy = Happy. It's a simple formula that they didn't teach me in engineering school but it is so true. When I had my 101 plus degree fever and was bed ridden I started thinking that just being able to go to eat, walk outside and work would be fun. It's amazing how quickly your view can change.

I think it was the bird flu I've been hearing so much about since it was bad and I did eat a lot of chicken noodle soup! Ok probably not but it was bad enough.

Now I'm back in the world of the living with a happier outlook on life and a lot of respect for my boyfriend for taking care of me. Men aren't all bad I guess. Thanks D. for taking one for the team!