Way to Go, Kindle

So yesterday I was going on a business trip to San Jose area for just the day. An early flight out, meetings all day and a late flight back to LAX. I was super excited for this business trip... no, not because I really gave a damn about the meetings, but because I was actually going to get to use my new KINDLE!

I recently got one for my birthday and have been waiting for just the right opportunity to use it for first time ever. I even purchased stylish hard cover, as not to scratch my new treasure. The hour or so flight up was to be the maiden voyage of my new fancy techie toy. I even planned ahead - I charged it last weekend so I would be all set to go yesterday morning.

So, I board the plane, settle into my seat, get my Starbucks all situated and pull out my Kindle. The long awaited moment is finally here... and here's what I see this message when I opened the cover:

"Critical Power Error. Your Battery is Empty."

FUCK.

I guess I'm such a freaking moron that I forgot to turn the damn thing off after charging.

Half Marathon on the Horizon (somewhere)

So, K (my husband) and I are training for a half marathon at the moment. Unfortunately, we don’t actually know which half marathon we are actually going to run – we were planning on the Paso Robles Wine Country half marathon on March 21st, but that kinda fell through (don’t ask, but it would have been awesome!). But, we’re still sticking to our training plan anyway. Yeah, we’re kinda retarded sometimes.

I am a runner. K is not. In fact, he hates it. But, bless his heart, he is training with me, just to see what all the hype is about. I married a good one, huh?

So, here’s my running background: I have been a runner for about 15 years. I did the cross country/track thing throughout high school, but got burned out on it by the time I went to college, due to all the injuries and wear and tear on my body. But I slowly got back into it as I realized that exercise is a vital part of my existence (and necessary to work off the excessive amount of beer I was sucking down). Moving to Southern California helped get me back into it – with 70 degrees and sunny 80% of the year, there is NO excuse to be just a gym rat, when I can be running alongside the ocean.

This is not my first half marathon… I’ve run two before, both amazing experiences. I can say that I loved every minute of them - I’m totally f-ed up in the head, I know - right down to that moment when I’ve crossed the finish line. Especially when I’ve gotten my best time (PR). For whatever half marathon we end up doing, I hope to beat my current PR of 1:43:38.

In a later post I’ll talk about my training plan, and how well I’m sticking to it, and K’s experience so far. I’ve become a total wimp living here in Cali – the insane amount of rain last week definitely slowed me down some.

Now all I need to do is find a damn half marathon to actually sign up for…

Sophie

Doggie Adoption, A First for Me

Here’s some background information in regards to me and dogs. I was not what you call a “dog person” in any sense of the word. I grew up with cats, which suited my independent lifestyle as a kid, and now as a adult. I believe a few bad experiences with dogs as a kid caused me to write them off as adequate pets forever. You know what I’m talking about, playing at your friends house and accidentally walking through shit in the living room, ruining your brand new Reboks; riding your bike down the street only to be chased by a ferocious beast of a dog; valiantly trying to kick a dog away from sniffing your crotch or jumping on your chest; and not to mention the endless barking coming from your neighbor’s garage. See, those experiences culminated into one thought: All dogs are evil, living room shitting, crotch sniffing, annoying barking assholes.

My husband, K, is a dog person, and gradually he has worn me down into to accepting that not all dogs are that bad. As I have come to realize, usually the misbehaving dog is the victim of a mean/lazy jerk of an owner. So we agreed – we were going to adopt a dog, but I get to pick. We have been talking about getting one for about a year now, but with wedding planning, honeymooning, and extended work trips, it was not feasible last year. So now that all the craziness is behind us, we decided to go for it. I’ve always liked the look of fuzzier/sillyface dogs like Chows and Shiba Inus, so that’s where we started looking. We also agreed that we would rescue a dog that needed a home, versus spend an outrageous amount on a pure bred puppy. So, last Friday we finally got our doggie! She’s a 2 year old gorgeous rescue from the ghetto. She was seriously on death row in Compton. Pretty devastating to think about, huh? Anyway, she’s very shy, but has come around over the last 4 days with a lot of love and patience, and I have to say, I AM IN LOVE! What drew me to her was her sensitive nature, the fact that she doesn’t bark or chew, was surprisingly house/crate/leash trained and her breed (mostly Shiba) hates to be dirty. Sounds like a cat, but she cuddles like a dog!

Here’s a pic of our new puppyface – how can you not love this??

I'll Give You My Chapter and Verse

As someone who reads blogs, I find it much more interesting to know something about the person who is sharing their opinions and musings. In fact, sometimes it captivates me or makes me decide that I have serious disagreements with the writer. Both of which is the hook I need to be a consistent reader.

Without further ado, here's the key stats about me:

Preference for Anonymity: I prefer to write this blog under my pseudonym, Sophie. A mere ruse to keep my identity secret for various reasons; probably the same reasons many other bloggers decide to not share their identity.

Background: Raised in the Midwest until moving to Cali after I complete undergrad about 7 years ago. My immediate family (parents, step parents, 2 brothers) is now scattered across the US from Chicago to Seattle to Los Angles, but we are still very tight.

The person that makes me happiest: My darling husband, K. Not to be cliche, but he literally IS my best friend. In fact, we were best friends for a few years before getting together; relationships are so much easier when your sig other already knows about all your dirty laundry before you even get together. I can't relay how comforting it is knowing that there are no dealbreakers before entering into a relationship. We got married the summer of 2009, in an almost flawless ceremony that was seriously the best day of my life. Yeah, another total cliche.

Education: I have a BS in engineering from a highly rated engineering school and recently acquired my MBA from a not so highly rated business school. Can't win 'em all, right?

Physical: I gotta say this now, I'm a lucky bitch. I have pretty good genes in that I can eat gourmet/decadent fatty foods every now and then, spend 30 mins running 3 days a week and maintain my 118 lbs on my 5'5" frame and not think twice. Please don't hate.

Work/Career: I've been at my company since college graduation - about 5 years longer than I thought I was going to work there actually. I have a like/hate relationship with my job (more hate than like these days). I would describe my job as number-crunchy and too boring to really go into, but it pays well so I can't complain too much. Even though Monday's are increasingly becoming more and more painful.

Life Passions: As I eluded to earlier, I love food, passionately. I love watching Food Network, hearing about what people ate it which restaurant, hearing about what people cooked for dinner last night, eating at the amazing restaurants here in California, and of course, cooking up my own culinary creations. In fact, I love food so much that one of the main priority's for our honeymoon was going somewhere for the local food (good thing K is all about food too!). Of course, wine is a close second. I was lucky enough to have a liberal father growing up in that he allowed me to drink wine with my meals starting at 15 (he's a big fan of the French's methods of child rearing). Living here in California just intensified my love of wine, and I've dabbled in the possibility of a career change into the wine industry. Perhaps someday... In addition, I love traveling (spent 10 weeks in Europe in 2009 for work and play), and running. In fact, I'm currently training for a half marathon, but I'll leave that to another post.

Ok, I gotta wrap this up cause all this talk about me, is making me sick of myself. Whoever said blogs were one of the most narcissistic form of expression was right!

Sophie

Blog Rebirth

I wonder how many people abandon their blog out of nowhere. You spend hours sweating out engaging and witty blog entries, collecting followers, commenting like crazy on fellow bloggers to gain more said followers, not to mention all the formatting, adding pictures, slides shows, whathaveyou. All of that work, and then one day, you wake up and decide that you're over it.

In the past year, I have seen many blogs suffer a similar fate to my first blog. One can blame the demise on various reasons; lack of time or interest, a lifestyle change, a few too many posts that ruin relationships, acquiring a stalker, etc. I lost interest in my first blog because I began to find myself writing the "20 something, getting married, love my husband, life is dandy" standard issue posts. I feel compelled to offer up something different to the blogasphere. While I have a glorious life I love, a husband that is phenomenal, I found that my more realistic side needs an outlet too. Now, this blog is not going to be a litany of bitchy posts, complaints, criticism, and general woe - who wants to read that shit day after day? - I will be writing more honestly, with hopefully more careful thought.

Welcome to my slightly ironic, but more genuine treatise of my life experiences.

Sophie