Beautiful...

The Orioles have lost two in a row, but isn't it lovely seeing the Yankees in last place:

Not too shabby...

My second attempt at 26.2...

...was successful! Well, my first attempt was successful too, but disappointing. This time - at the St. Louis Marathon - I finished in 4:20:12, which I was happy with because my goal was 4:25. I actually think I ran the first half too slow, even though I was on my goal pace, because I had so much energy left at the end. Here's a pilfered copyrighted photo of me shortly before mile 26:



I was feeling pretty strong, so maybe I should set a more ambitious goal for my next marathon. My next road marathon, that is. My next 26.2 is a trail marathon, and I'm totally excited about it. Check out the pics at the Grand Island Trail Marathon site. But after that will be the Baltimore Marathon on Oct. 13, right Kate? Maybe I'll try to do that in 4:00.

I just got a photo CD developed. Check out this cute picture of Madeline trying to stay warm when my heat wasn't working in December:

Baseball!

It's baseball season!! I'm not a White Sox fan, but it was pretty exciting watching Mark Buerle pitch a no-hitter just now - first Sox no-hitter in 16 years. And against the Texas Rangers - they're a pretty good hitting team. My beloved Orioles are doing so-so as usual, but at least they're currently tied with those nasty Yankees in the standings instead of trailing them. So far there are two major disappointments in MLB that I hope will soon change.

Disappointment #1: My Phillies stink:

Even Kansas City is doing better.

Disappointment #2: Brian Roberts' hair:

No Brian! The former Johnny Damon look is NOT for you, my cute, strong, base-stealing future husband.

Note to my loyal readers: You're probably thinking "future husband? Whatever, she's fantasizing about her favorite player." But check out Brian's biography, direct from the Orioles website (click to enlarge):

See how it begins? "Single..."!! I've read plenty of other MLB players biographies, and none of them actually mention when a player is single. This must mean Brian WANTS us 20-something female Orioles fans to know he's single and looking. And Brian and I would make a perfect match. According to a recent Post article, Brian is a soft-spoken and hard-working. He's one of the smallest MLB players, but he's got tremendous power, speed, and intellect about the game. He's very religious - more so than me, I think - but we could make it work! I wish I wasn't so shy - I am kicking myself for not talking to him when my parents and I had 4th row seats between home and the O's on-deck circle at a game last summer. I missed my chance to give him my number, but I am confident there will be other opportunities.

BUT...Brian, sweetie, if you don't cut your hair, I may begin to turn my lustings to your teammate, Corey Patterson. He's pretty hot too, although his biography doesn't specify if he is single. Here's a photo of my two prospective boyfriends:

The Danube is Dobre

Last week my mom and I went to visit Alicia in Slovakia. Normally I like to learn a least a little bit of the language before I travel to a foreign country, but Slovak (and Hungarian) are just too, I don't know, crazy-looking and sounding. The three words I did pick up were "ahoj" (pronounced "ahoy") which means hello, "dobre" which means well or good, and "d'akujem" (pronounced kinda like "Jacque-wee-em") which is thank you. I didn't pick up any Hungarian, and hardly anyone in Budapest spoke English, but we got by. Okay, now I get to show off some of my photos.

Here's a slightly crooked pic from the main square in Bratislava our first night there:



It was kinda hazy, but here is the big castle that you can see from almost anywhere in Bratislava. We visited it on Day 2:



An adorable little blue church:



Alicia served us grasshoppers. She was a lovely hostess:



Mommy and Alicia in Budapest:



Parliment in Budapest:



Alice the Camel has two humps and a nice smile (Budapest Zoo):



The prettiest elephant house we had ever seen:

Madeline Takes Over!

Bonjour tout le monde!

Mommy said I could take over her blog while she does her taxes, even though I'm getting cat hair all over her keyboard. So on Friday Mommy worked late and I got really bored and decided to play with all my toys and make a big mess:



It was fun! But Mommy was a big party-pooper - she had to go and put all my toys away. How boring!



Mommy also lent me her digital camera so I could take pictures of some of my favorite things:


(I love to sit in the paper recycling bin. Fortunately Mommy keeps the paper shredder unplugged)


(yummy!)


(Mommy has me on a diet, but I don't complain too much.)


(My place for a good scratch and hit of kitty weed...which reminds me of a funny T-shirt Mommy saw. It said "If you don't talk to your cat about catnip, who will?")

Another one that makes me mad...

I meant to blog about this a few days ago when I first heard about this conservative evangelical's blog, but here's a recent article from The Post. This is so ridiculous that I almost don't know what to say. Like Kate commented, it disgusts me how much time and energy is wasted on issues like this when there are so many more pressing issues. Like instead of worrying about whether a baby is going to be born gay and how to prevent it from "becoming a sinner", we could focus our resources on troubled and disadvantaged kids so they don't grow up to become addicts, criminals, or poor. Or whatever. But our society and media insist on pushing sexuality to the forefront. Just skimming The Post's site today there are three articles on sexuality: the one above, this one on Clinton and Obama, and this one on school curriculum.

I had a nice weekend, something that hasn't happened in a while due to certain people hurting me. I had a friend over for dinner (cheddar tomato soup, salad, bread, merlot) and a movie (Invincible) on Friday. On Saturday I went running at Kickapoo State Park - and I wish I'd had my camera with me! I saw two indigo buntings, a red-headed woodpecker, lots of deer (of course), and...three river otters!! They were adorable - they were really close to me, and kept poking their heads in and out of the water, looking right at me. I could've gotten the cutest photos, but who goes running with a camera? Oh well. Then my cousin Gail and her husband Mike came to visit me (thank you guys!). We hit the local coffee shop and international food stores and then met up with some of my friends from work at Mike & Molly's bar for St. Patty's Day. I had Bailey's and peppermint schnapps - yum! After Gail & Mike left, I went with a friend to see the Bratpack, an '80s cover band, at Chiefs. On Sunday morning I somehow managed to get up at 6:30 so I could run at Forest Glen with people from my running club. I'm glad I made it - it was an absolutely gorgeous day at a gorgeous park. Again, I wish I'd had my camera. Illinois DOES have REAL hills! I seriously felt like I was back in PA or western MD. It had so many steep hills (and stream crossings) that it took us over 2 hr to run 11 miles - it was quite a workout. But afterwards we re-carbed at the park's annual Maple Syrup Festival - all the pancakes, sausage, and real maple syrup you can eat for $5. Yum! Then we took a quick tour of the sugar shack before heading back to Champaign.

Well, no river otter or Forest Glen pictures, so instead here's a random, happy picture to show off that I took at Yellowstone back in '98:

Oooh this makes me mad!!

I've always hated the military's "don't ask don't tell" policy, and this article makes me so angry! How can you call homosexuality and adultery immoral when you're a Marine general? How can a Marine general say "we do not condone immoral acts."!?! You're responsible for killing people!! Lots of people!! So war is moral but being gay is not? Kudos to Rep. Meehan and supporters for introducing legislation to reverse this ban. I was once told by a certain Navy reservist (who may be reading this - let me know if you've changed your opinion since then) that he supports the ban because some people would feel weirded out and distracted if they had to serve alongside a homosexual. That's too ridiculous for words. We meet such a wide variety of people in life - you may not like everyone, but sometimes you have to find ways to be accepting, grow up, and get along. Plus, don't our troops work w/ other countries' troops in coalitions or whatever? Other countries who allow gays in their military because they're not conservative tight asses like the U.S.. So our patriotic homophobes may find themselves working alongside a gay person anyway! Grrr, this frosts Sandra Cookie's cookies!

Delta Zeta in the news again

Here's an Associated Press article about DePauw University kicking Delta Zeta off its campus. Heck, they only had two members left anyway. And here's the statement from our National Headquarters. I guess I do feel kind of bad for our national officers having to deal with all this publicity. But I still think their idea of a "strong commitment to recruitment" in this situation probably included how much make-up you're willing to wear, how many pounds you can lose, how stylish your clothes are, and how much of a social butterfly you can be. When your sorority is known as the "doghouse", academics, philanthropy, and sisterhood just aren't gonna bring in new members.

New Artwork

There was a large mirror above my TV and it fell off the wall and broke, leaving a big white space. So I moved my Van Gogh print to over the TV and decided to buy something nice to cover up the white space over the futon. I went to Ten Thousand Villages and found this, a coiled wool tapestry from Peru. I like it a lot because of the soft, warm colors, and it goes with my "fabric themed" living room - I now have cloths/ tapestries from Niger, Equador, India, and Peru.



Changing subjects, does anyone out there, besides Kate, like marshmallow peeps, which incidently are made in Bethlehem, PA? I didn't think so (sorry, Kate, I think they're gross!). But now I have an excellent reason to buy them:
The Washington Post Peeps Diorama Contest!
Just another reason why this newspaper is so great. But the competition's going to be tough. Scroll down and see "March of the Peeps" and "Spinal Peeps" from an earlier contest (yeah, the Post swiped the idea from the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Peeps look so much like Daphnia that I'd like to make a diorama of a pelagic ecosystem, but I have a feeling only me and a few other people would get it.

Idiots Keep Me Entertained

This week it was this idiot. Another entertaining headline (but I'm not calling them idiots) was this: Swiss Army Accidentally Invades Liechtenstein. Also, here is another article about my sorority. Okay, lunch break over, time to get back to work.

Appearances DO matter (esp. when you're Greek)

Are there any Delta Zetas among my few loyal readers? My sorority has made national news this month in this NY Times article and on CNN in a little newspiece, Paula Zahn interview, and panel discussion. The chapter at DePauw University had been having trouble with recruitment, and so some of the national officers came in and conducted a "membership review". They interviewed each women in the chapter and then sent letters to 23 of them "recommending [them] for alumna status". As the news spins it, the 23 women that got the boot included all the overweight women and 3 of the 4 minorities. Six more women who were not asked to leave left in protest. Then Nationals held a recruitment event hosted by just the slender pretty women (they imported more slender pretty woman from another chapter), while the rest waited upstairs. So the e-mails from my chapter have been flying, with most of my sisters saying the NY Times and CNN spun it the wrong way, and that nationals hasn't had a chance to explain their side. But - and I'm sorry DZs, if you're reading this, for my brutally honest opinion - I have no problem believing our national officers judged their own sisters based on their appearances. Our national president sent a message stating that "we are offended at suggestions that decisions made at DePauw were related in any way to our members' races and nationalities" and that "All members of Delta Zeta shall be chosen for moral, social and intellectual worth. Membership shall not be denied because of race, color, religion, national origin or handicap". Yeah, but fellow DZs please notice that our constitution does not list "appearance" or "image" among race, color, religion, etc. And it DOES state that members shall be chosen for...SOCIAL...worth. Hence, according to our constitution, it's okay to kick out the fat ugly, or socially awkward women. And I think Nationals did, because they were desperate to boost numbers because if the chapter at DePauw closed, the University says they couldn't guarantee it would be allowed back. And who wants to join a sorority with a bunch of fat, ugly, socially awkward women? This is GREEK life...yes, it's about philanthropy, scholarship, sisterhood, and all that crap, but most of the women who rush want to join the fun, hot, popular houses. That's just the way it is. I know, I'm cynical, but really. My chapter (Alpha Rho) had trouble recruiting women - we were always lower than the other houses during my time there. The reason? Every sorority has a stereotype(s) and ours were the fat sorority, the nerd sorority, and the reject sorority. APs if you're reading this you know I love you dearly, but you also know I'm being realistic here. If parading the pretty girls meant higher recruitment numbers and not losing the DePauw chapter, well then, what else was Nationals supposed to do?

Moving on... I LOVE Krispy Kreme doughnuts and I want to know why the hell they would make a whole wheat doughnut. It's a DOUGHNUT! It's KRISPY KREME! Don't try to make it healthy! Whole wheat has no place in doughtnuts. And "health-conscious consumers" should be nowhere near a Krispy Kreme (shorter line and more hot doughnuts for me!)

Moving on again...A friend had an extra ticket to last Wednesday's Illini game (thank you Don!), so I got to see the chief's last performance. To the people who were crying: I love tradition too, and it's true I don't understand yours, but tears? I wish stuff like that was all I had to cry about now. Anyway, it was still fun to be there, and here are a couple pics. The second pic is after the chief performed, when many fans took off their orange to wear black in protest.

Blizzard!

On the bus ride to work I found out that U of I classes were canceled - and I just heard on NPR, anecdotally, that's the 1st time they've done that since 1978!! Evidently, state offices are closed, too, because I am now here at work all by myself. Isn't this GOES IR image of the storm beautiful? OK, Shari just showed up, and now I'm feeling motivated. I'd better stop blogging and get some work done!

Lovie Smith Becomes First African-American Coach To Lose Super Bowl

...a headline from "The Onion" that made me crack up. Read the article here. I also liked this: White House Quietly Retracts Entire State Of The Union Address and this: Touring Raffi Refuses To Play 'Shake My Sillies Out'. Did anyone else watch Raffi videos as a child? Maybe I know him just cuz my mom's a preschool teacher.

I just came across this on The Onion's site, too (hee hee!):



Hey Kate and Andrew and anyone else who has attempted to comment in vain: I changed my settings so that ANYONE can post a comment on my blog. I don't want to discriminate against non-Blogger account people.

I feel like posting a random picture, but I haven't taken or drawn any in a while, so here is an award-winning photo of a copepod taken by my friend and Ph.D. committee member Dr. Robert Moeller. Robert if you're reading this I hope you don't mind:



Isn't it beautiful? Doesn't it make you wish you studied zooplankton like I do?

More random musings: my friends and (certain) family members are fantastic. A very sincere thank you to all of you who have listened to me rant, cry, curse, and cry some more.

Bon Anniversaire a moi!

Today is my birthday! The big 2-8. I went searching on the internet to see which famous people share my bday, and I hadn't heard of most of them. These were the ones I knew:

• Lisa Marie Presley
• Clark Gable
• Boris Yeltsin
• Langston Hughes

After my birthday, the most notable event that's occurred on Feb 1 in recent history is Janet Jackson's nipple incident. Ha ha, kidding. Well, that really did happen on Feb. 1 (2004), but on a more serious note the most memorable event is probably the Columbia Shuttle explosion (Feb. 1, 2003). On a happier note, Canada introduced their Civil Marriage Act on Feb 1, 2005. Ooh, I just found something else. Besides being Groundhog Eve, Feb 1 is National Porridge Day in parts of Northern England (so I guess it's not really "national"). Isn't Wikipedia great?

These made me laugh...

Here are some "headlines" from the onion:

PFL

This is so funny! If science doesn't work out for me, I think I'm going to join the PFL and call myself Cookie the Clobberer. Or Sandra the Slugger. My weapon of choice will be a king-size down in a flannel case. I think with all my dancing and running (and the "Sandra 100" - 100 push-ups a day does a body good) I could totally kick those bitches' asses!

Mid-Latitude Cyclone

If I was still teaching meteorology I would show my students these beautiful images of a classic mid-latitude cyclone that is crossing the midwest this weekend:





Note the large comma-shaped region of precipitation that is characteristic of mid-latitude cyclones. A great website to view satellite images and surface station data for U.S. (or North American) weather is here. Click on enhanced IR and view the looped animation - it's cool! This site from Plymouth University is also a good one. Ooh wait, yeah, I just found an image of the radar data superimposed on the IR:

A Major Media Conglomeration

Look! My two favorite newspapers are partnering up:

The Washington Post to Partner With The Onion

Isn't that awesome?

Milquetoast

I just wanted to share this new word I learned from a book I was reading. Even though I read as much as I can, it's usually science, so my non-science vocabulary has always been poor. But I'm working on it - I subscribe to the word-of-the-day (from two sources) and I'm plowing through my booklist. So don't make fun of me if you already know what milquetoast means! If you don't know what it means, here's what dictionary.com says:

milque·toast /ˈmɪlkˌtoʊst/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[milk-tohst] –noun (sometimes initial capital letter) a very timid, unassertive, spineless person, esp. one who is easily dominated or intimidated: a milquetoast who's afraid to ask for a raise.

Sandra Cookie is definitely NOT a milquetoast!