On the Road Again

Marc came over to work this afternoon and we went running--outside on the pavement--with Kristin and Chris. It's the first time I've been out on real surfaces since our 5K, and let me tell you how tired it made me. Haha! That might become at least a weekly occurrence, but I have a feeling it'll really suck when it starts to get hotter.

Speaking of hot weather... it's supposed to be quite warm in the northwest this weekend. 90s, the last I heard. We're headed up to Cliffdell, WA, for the big annual PNWX campout. It should be a fun time!

Oh, and I have some exciting news, but I can't share it publicly yet. NO I'm not pregnant... it's not *that* kind of exciting. You'll just have to wait.

One Week with the Civic

I love my little car. Again, it's certainly no G35, but it's actually very cool and an enjoyable car to drive. It now has just over 100 miles on it, and it's used about a third of a tank of gas (it was filled up at 20 miles).

Today I took Greg out for a driving lesson. I don't think he's driven since he was a teenager, so I figured the Civic was a perfect car to start learning on again. We spent an hour this afternoon driving around the parking lot at work, practicing a bit of parking, and driving the loop on the main street. He did an awesome job!

Next week is our big PNWX campout, which I'm totally psyched about. We haven't been camping at all yet this season, so it'll be fun to spend a weekend outside.

(sigh)

After a long afternoon and evening of driving different models of Civics and comparing colors, we brought one home. It's a 2008 Galaxy Gray sedan. It's nothing like the Infiniti--or any of our most recent cars--but I like it. Pictures to come...

Caving to the Cost of Gas

Not even a year ago, we got the car that I love more than any car I've had before. The G35. However, after driving it fewer than 6,000 miles in the past 10 months and considering the price of gas and our hefty lease payment, we've decided to try to sell it. We will be replacing it with something more fuel efficient (and that doesn't take premium gas) like a Civic. We've got an appointment to go check them out on Friday. We're also looking to add a "fun car" back to the lineup--if not immediately, then sometime soon. Something like a 350Z or S2000... either way, it works out that having two cars like that, including insurance, will cost us less than having the Infiniti.

Yeah, we're car whores.

Anyway, if you're interested or know anyone who's interested in buying our beloved G35, let me know.

I should have known

I used to help plan our company's annual Art Show, where employees got to showcase their various artwork and performance talents. It took a considerable amount of time and planning, but nothing was too difficult. When I was asked a couple of months ago to help plan our campus's events centered around social responsibility, I accepted, not knowing exactly what I was getting myself into. However, after hours of meetings, phone calls, e-mails, and other various planning, our "Sage Day" on Friday went off with only a few minor hitches.

Employees from around the company donated food for the Oregon Food Bank and pet supplies for the Oregon Humane Society. Five groups of employees completed community service projects in the afternoon for the Oregon Humane Society, Tualatin Hills Parks and Rec District, and Schoolhouse Supplies. We all got reusable shopping bags and water bottles. We had a great BBQ supplemented with bangers and mash, bread pudding, and strawberry trifle.

Our support department sponsored a separate contest to see which team could donate the most stuff for OFB and OHS. I gave them through the end of the day Friday to make their donations, so yesterday I went back to the office (with Marc as my helper) to tally everything. We loaded about 1,300 pounds of stuff into the Xterra and dropped it off at the Humane Society! I am totally impressed with how great of a response we got from the teams in their donations.

After that excursion in the morning, we came home and took what was supposed to be a 20-minute nap. It turned into 2 hours and we overslept the Indiana Jones movie we had free tickets for. Oops.

For dinner we tried a new pizza place--Extreme Pizza! We hung out at Slimey's house with him and the boys for awhile since it'd been awhile since we've seen them.

Anyway, I'm glad everything for Sage Day is done. I have slept a LOT this weekend--it had me exhausted!

An Atheist Named Christian

We succeeded! We survived our first 5K! Marc got a horrible night of sleep before the race, and we were up earlier on Sunday than I usually get up for work. It was cold and rainy. The day had the makings to be completely awful. But it wasn't. We got out to Sherwood and checked in by 7:45. The race didn't start until 8:30, so we sat in the car (and I changed from shorts to pants) until it was time to get out and stretch. All the runners gathered on the track, and then we were off! The course went through a neighborhood and then back along a nice path behind some houses.

A few observations:
- It was cool having neighbors sitting outside cheering us on and playing music.
- The high school band and cheerleaders provided encouragement, too.
- It's really hard to drink water from a dixie cup while you're running.
- The 50 degree cool weather ended up being a blessing. I don't know how comfortable I would have been if it had been 10 or 20 degrees warmer.

Anyway, I made it the whole way without walking a single step. That was my goal. Marc held back from his usual faster pace to stay with me. We crossed the finish line together a few seconds under 34 minutes.

So you might be wondering about the odd title on this post. Last Thursday we got massages, and the lady doing Marc's was talking about her son, named Christian, and how it was funny that he was an atheist. That got me thinking about contradictions, and while I was running yesterday morning, another one struck me.

I've always been impressed by the power of nature--I love things like thunderstorms, the surge of the ocean, and erupting volcanoes. I don't like the human suffering that often accompanies natural phenomena like hurricanes and earthquakes, but I love the reminder that no matter how smart or technologically advanced we are, there's always an element of luck to our very existence. I like how nature puts us in our place.

During my run, I was thinking about how much power we have over our bodies. Last August, I could barely run for 30 seconds. The thought of me running for 30 minutes was completely laughable. Since then, I've proven that even I, the self-proclaimed non-runner, can run distances. There's so much power in our minds to help us accomplish things. That power on a small scale seems completely opposite the power that nature can exert over us, but I love recognizing how both play a part in my life.