.jpg)
Now that I have your attention I have to let you know that Gay Head is a just a town on Martha’s Vineyard and was part of my latest travel destination and adventure. Fortunately there was no truth in advertising but we did have a good time snickering about it. We did see several Fairies… I mean Ferries but that’s not the same thing at all. Yes I know I’m 40 now and shouldn’t still act so silly but who says I have to grow up.
Speaking of no truth in advertising I didn’t see a single vineyard on Martha’s Vineyard. Maybe it’s a bad crop year or something. We did see a cornfield when we were cruising around in our bright blue convertible rental car. I would have thought the property there would be too expensive to grow corn but maybe this was special “vineyard corn” and sold for $10 an ear. Who knows?
Martha’s ice cream shop would have been a better name for the place since there was an ice cream shop on practically every corner. I felt bad for the poor overworked cows. We quickly got bored of the ice cream so we took our unsuspecting rental car on some major off road trails. These were jeep trails and not made for a sports car. It was fun for us but probably not so much for the car. No worries we returned it in one piece and still had some funny stories to tell and pictures to show.
Our vacation was mostly to Boston but somehow that just didn’t make as good of a title for this blog. We watched the fireworks down by the Charles River. It was a great show until the smoke blocked out most of the fireworks and we were just listening to the booms and looking at smoke. After the smoke show we had to cross over a 10 foot wide bridge to get out of the park with 599,998 of our closest friends. The best thing about the event was the drunken partying people afterwards. I ran into 3 women singing patriotic songs. I convinced them to sing Neil Diamond’s America with me much to the dismay of my boyfriend since I had been teasing him all day with that song. Out of nowhere I would sing a line or two or just shout “Today”. It’s amazing he puts up with me.
I also did some cone skating on the fourth. As if just plain old inline skating isn’t hard enough, this group weaves through cones placed just a few feet apart downhill on their skates. I call it rubber legs. If you’ve ever seen it you would know what I mean. I do ok but my legs just don’t seem to bend as well. While I was skating my boyfriend went for a walk. He returned with a pina colada in a coconut. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. This wouldn’t have surprised me on our recent trip to the Bahamas but somehow it just didn’t seem to fit in with Boston on the fourth…kinda like combining hot dogs and a fine wine. But we’ve determined that it is perhaps possible to get a drink in a coconut anywhere in the world and will be testing this theory at our future vacation destinations. Yellowstone coconut coladas here we come!
Another fun activity on our vacation adventure was the Historic Pub Crawl. It’s actually called the Freedom Trail and passes several historic sites but seems to pass a lot of bars along the way too so we made a few extra stops. Supposedly a lot of the decisions made by our founding fathers were made over a pint or two of ale. So I think from now on I will make all my decisions that way. Should I take this new promotion? Think I’ll get drunk and then decide. This could get interesting.
To top off my vacation I got picked for the ‘random’ search at the airport for both my departing flights. Apparently I am a major threat to national security…good to know. The search on the departing flight from Orlando wasn’t bad. It was faster than the normal line and I got felt up by a cute girl – could’ve been worse. The way back was a different story. It took close to 30 minutes. They even checked my oh so suspicious skates for chemical residual. Other people getting the “special treatment” included a black girl in spandex pants (hard to hide anything in what she was wearing) and a very well dressed foreign looking man who said “I’m glad they are doing searches”. I was thinking “yeah I’m glad they are searching you too but I think the spandex girl and I are pretty safe bets”. I’m surprised they let the Girl Scouts go through without a strip search! No telling what was in their cookie boxes.
It was a fun trip. If it sounds at all like I’m complaining it’s just me trying to find humor and entertain you with some of the more colorful experiences. I think it would be fun to live in Boston since I like big cities and there was so much to see and do. But I think I would change my mind when the temperature dropped below 60 degrees. I’m a warm weather Florida girl after all.
Cat “Boston Haaabar” Cathy
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Black Sheep of Yoga
My latest sporting adventure is a little different from my usual extremes of mountain biking and kite boarding. I recently took up Hot Yoga, which involves bending your body into all kinds of unusual positions in a steaming hot 105-degree room. You may be wondering how this could possibly pass for fun but somehow in my mind it does. I guess I enjoy it since it’s new, challenging, and good for your health. In a 90-minute class I get strength training, aerobic exercise, stretching, balance, relaxation and sweating out gallons of toxins. I've really enjoyed seeing my flexibility and balance improve over the past few months. Plus I now have many vacation pictures with yoga poses in them, which makes the pictures more fun.
Unfortunately my silly personality doesn't quite fit with hot yoga. It's supposed to be a spiritual experience. Right. I think the "spiritual experience" is more a sign of heat stroke approaching. My boyfriend and I like to act silly and so are developing a “black sheep” reputation in the class. Just last class we got in trouble for playing footsie between postures. Some people get recognized for doing a good job but we only get noticed for misbehaving. Well I guess any recognition is better than none at all, right?
The instructors say the same thing every class. There is one balance move that I just can't seem to get and the instructor says every class "if you're losing your balance, you aren't kicking hard enough". So I'm thinking I'll show him just how hard I can kick when I see him in the parking lot after class. Or they don’t get the English quite right, like in “touch your knee to your exactly forehead”. Which is different from my regular forehead how? I do believe the postures are good for your health and internal organs but there is one position where they say "20 seconds in this posture is as good as 8 hours sleep". Yeah right. Get a clue exactly guy, it's probably as good as exactly 20 seconds of sleep. Did I mention that the instructor doesn't even do the moves with the class? He just stands up there and tells us what to do. Somehow that just doesn't seem fair but at least he suffers through the heat too.
The class always ends with the teacher saying "Namaste" and the students repeating it. I never knew quite what this meant, and I didn't want to be saying "I will give you my first born" so I never said it. My boyfriend looked it up and in short it means "I bow to you" and is just a respectful greeting. So why can’t they just do what the Jamaicans do and say "Respect Mon"? Anyway, my boyfriend then sent me an email saying "I bow to you – let's come together energetically to a place of connection and timelessness". Hmmm I wonder what he exactly wants.
Anyway, it’s fun and I’m glad I tried something new – you just never know. And who cares if we “exactly” fit in?
Cat "It's Hot in Here" Cathy
Unfortunately my silly personality doesn't quite fit with hot yoga. It's supposed to be a spiritual experience. Right. I think the "spiritual experience" is more a sign of heat stroke approaching. My boyfriend and I like to act silly and so are developing a “black sheep” reputation in the class. Just last class we got in trouble for playing footsie between postures. Some people get recognized for doing a good job but we only get noticed for misbehaving. Well I guess any recognition is better than none at all, right?
The instructors say the same thing every class. There is one balance move that I just can't seem to get and the instructor says every class "if you're losing your balance, you aren't kicking hard enough". So I'm thinking I'll show him just how hard I can kick when I see him in the parking lot after class. Or they don’t get the English quite right, like in “touch your knee to your exactly forehead”. Which is different from my regular forehead how? I do believe the postures are good for your health and internal organs but there is one position where they say "20 seconds in this posture is as good as 8 hours sleep". Yeah right. Get a clue exactly guy, it's probably as good as exactly 20 seconds of sleep. Did I mention that the instructor doesn't even do the moves with the class? He just stands up there and tells us what to do. Somehow that just doesn't seem fair but at least he suffers through the heat too.
The class always ends with the teacher saying "Namaste" and the students repeating it. I never knew quite what this meant, and I didn't want to be saying "I will give you my first born" so I never said it. My boyfriend looked it up and in short it means "I bow to you" and is just a respectful greeting. So why can’t they just do what the Jamaicans do and say "Respect Mon"? Anyway, my boyfriend then sent me an email saying "I bow to you – let's come together energetically to a place of connection and timelessness". Hmmm I wonder what he exactly wants.
Anyway, it’s fun and I’m glad I tried something new – you just never know. And who cares if we “exactly” fit in?
Cat "It's Hot in Here" Cathy
Supervising for Dummies
My boss decided I needed some opportunity for growth and she suggested that I get some supervisory experience. Since I’m on the technical side of things there was only one person that was suitable and he was already being supervised by another engineer. So now we split the supervising duties which gives me the demanding task of supervising half a person. I’m not sure if I want the top half or the bottom half. If I get the bottom half I won’t have to worry about him mouthing back at me but there are worse bodily functions he could use. Maybe we could split him into the left half and the right half. But that brings to mind the old joke about the guy who got hit by a train and cut in half….he’s ALL right now. I’m not totally new to the world of supervising. I was a team lead and supervised three and a half people in my last job. What is with all these half people?
I’m not sure supervising is for me. I like to act silly and it can be hard to command respect and admiration when everyone considers you the ‘office clown’. But like everything else in life, I just look at it as a new experience and a challenge that will help me grow as a person. I hope I will be a good supervisor and his left half will be very happy!
Cat “The Delegator” Cathy
I’m not sure supervising is for me. I like to act silly and it can be hard to command respect and admiration when everyone considers you the ‘office clown’. But like everything else in life, I just look at it as a new experience and a challenge that will help me grow as a person. I hope I will be a good supervisor and his left half will be very happy!
Cat “The Delegator” Cathy
Look! Up in the Sky - It’s a bird, It’s a plane…it’s a kite board!
I’ve always thought I was special and my mom has always confirmed this but I'm not sure I fall into the elite top 1%. I’m referring to my newly attempted hobby of kite boarding. My friend/trainer who excels at kite boarding describes it as “absolutely positively the wrong sport for 99% of the population”.
In case you don’t know about kite boarding or kite surfing it involves a big kite that uses the wind to propel you on a board through the water. You will probably see someone attempting this if you get to the beach on a slightly windy day anytime soon. Plus you can kite on land and ice so you may see the big colorful kites on non-beachy areas as well.
I’ve wanted to try this sport for years so I was happy when I finally met someone who could teach me. I usually don’t need lessons when I take up a new sport but this one seems more complicated than most. So far I’m falling into the 99% category since I’m a bit scared of all the power you can get from the wind and the weather never seems to be quite right when I finally make the hour long drive to the beach. But I haven’t given up yet. I have a dream…that one day I will be able to get up on a kite board for at least a few feet. I’ll keep you posted.
But even if I never get up on the board it’s still been a positive experience. I've had fun learning to fly the kite on the beach and getting dragged in the water, I've made some new friends and I've learned to pay more attention to wind speed and direction. I recommend trying a new sport or hobby to everyone as a good way to learn something new and keep life interesting and challenging. Perhaps just not kite boarding.
Cat “Not Flying High” Cathy
In case you don’t know about kite boarding or kite surfing it involves a big kite that uses the wind to propel you on a board through the water. You will probably see someone attempting this if you get to the beach on a slightly windy day anytime soon. Plus you can kite on land and ice so you may see the big colorful kites on non-beachy areas as well.
I’ve wanted to try this sport for years so I was happy when I finally met someone who could teach me. I usually don’t need lessons when I take up a new sport but this one seems more complicated than most. So far I’m falling into the 99% category since I’m a bit scared of all the power you can get from the wind and the weather never seems to be quite right when I finally make the hour long drive to the beach. But I haven’t given up yet. I have a dream…that one day I will be able to get up on a kite board for at least a few feet. I’ll keep you posted.
But even if I never get up on the board it’s still been a positive experience. I've had fun learning to fly the kite on the beach and getting dragged in the water, I've made some new friends and I've learned to pay more attention to wind speed and direction. I recommend trying a new sport or hobby to everyone as a good way to learn something new and keep life interesting and challenging. Perhaps just not kite boarding.
Cat “Not Flying High” Cathy
The Dirty Underworld of LUST
Today we are going to talk about LUST. LUST is dirty! LUST is bad! Now before you think I’m preaching to you, let me clarify what LUST is. It’s an acronym for Leaking Underground Storage Tanks and it’s what I do in my day job.
I’m amazed at all the ways my coworkers and I have managed to make the seemingly dull world of underground petroleum cleanup silly and fun. My favorite is the site names that I have. Most sites are just named after the gas station where the spill occurred but somehow, as the only female engineer, I managed to get all the sites that seem to have a phallic reference….Mr. Dong’s Diner, Big Man Restaurant, Long fellow Supplies, Rod’s Imports and BJ’s Emporium. Suddenly I hear Beavis and Butthead in the background laughing…"ha ha she said BJ’s"…no wait that’s just me. I’d describe our attempts at work humor more but as an outsider you probably wouldn’t be too impressed so suffice to say that it makes the job more fun and its good team building to laugh together.
I suppose if we can do this with the seemingly dull world of petroleum cleanup than you can do it with your job too. So start making the most of each day and laughing with your coworkers. No matter what you do I’m sure you can find humor in it somewhere!
Cat “I LUST My Job” Cathy
I’m amazed at all the ways my coworkers and I have managed to make the seemingly dull world of underground petroleum cleanup silly and fun. My favorite is the site names that I have. Most sites are just named after the gas station where the spill occurred but somehow, as the only female engineer, I managed to get all the sites that seem to have a phallic reference….Mr. Dong’s Diner, Big Man Restaurant, Long fellow Supplies, Rod’s Imports and BJ’s Emporium. Suddenly I hear Beavis and Butthead in the background laughing…"ha ha she said BJ’s"…no wait that’s just me. I’d describe our attempts at work humor more but as an outsider you probably wouldn’t be too impressed so suffice to say that it makes the job more fun and its good team building to laugh together.
I suppose if we can do this with the seemingly dull world of petroleum cleanup than you can do it with your job too. So start making the most of each day and laughing with your coworkers. No matter what you do I’m sure you can find humor in it somewhere!
Cat “I LUST My Job” Cathy
Born To Be Mild
Riding motorcycles is such a rush but I don’t ride too often since it’s just too dangerous. Perhaps I’m cautious since I’m still recovering from being hit in the head by a car on my bicycle last year. But for some reason all bets are off when I’m on vacation so I rented a Yamaha 175 in Jamaica and took my chances. A third world country with horrible health care, two lane bumpy roads with constant passing, riding on the left side of the road, limited motorcycle skills and probably half of all drivers high from the ganja….what could possibly go wrong??????
Well thankfully no serious injuries occurred and it was the best day of my vacation. I felt safer riding a motorcycle in Jamaica than I would in the US. There are lots of motorcycles in Jamaica so most cars know to look out for them and are respectful and courteous. Cars would wait to pass and give a nice beep to let you know they were passing and give you plenty of room. In a full day of riding motorcycles only two cars passed a little too close for comfort and one ironically enough was an ambulance. It was an exciting day that I will have great memories of for a long time to come. Assuming of course I don’t get any more head injuries! It was so much fun that I’m considering getting my motorcycle license. But we’ll see since I’m still a bit of a sissy.
Cat "zoom zoom" Cathy
Well thankfully no serious injuries occurred and it was the best day of my vacation. I felt safer riding a motorcycle in Jamaica than I would in the US. There are lots of motorcycles in Jamaica so most cars know to look out for them and are respectful and courteous. Cars would wait to pass and give a nice beep to let you know they were passing and give you plenty of room. In a full day of riding motorcycles only two cars passed a little too close for comfort and one ironically enough was an ambulance. It was an exciting day that I will have great memories of for a long time to come. Assuming of course I don’t get any more head injuries! It was so much fun that I’m considering getting my motorcycle license. But we’ll see since I’m still a bit of a sissy.
Cat "zoom zoom" Cathy
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)