good to know

Interesting revalation of the weekend:

If you look cute in a mini-skirt while on a pub crawl "socially awkard dork in a bar too loud to attempt small talk" comes across as "too cool for school."

Bloodfest was good, if a bit surreal. Being one of the in charge people had me all kinds of distracted. I've never done bracketing, but that wasn't difficult. Game times were more so, but that wasn't something I was in control of. Working with the guys was a good experience, though, if not enough to convince me I should be an officer next year.

It was a day of with some great rugby and good times had, broken up by a pretty fantastic storm most of us waited out under the trees. And the Beavers took 1st place! Wendy at Scrumhalf Connection has a write up and video on her blog of both Bloodfest and the Dallas tourney.

(photo by Shalay Mefford)

overheard at work

State employee #1: "Well, I didn't know you liked mayonaise on your hotdogs."

State employee #2, in the most incredulous voice possible, "Who doesn't!?"

yuck.

Fit

Yay strong, competitive women! And yay Crossfit!


I came back from my kettlebell workout today to Katy's post about her team Crossfit training. After spending my entire bike ride back thinking how much I love being able to conquer a tough workout and how I can't imagine not having fitness always be a part of my life, no less. That her team is working out together is great idea - I wonder if the Valks would be down for it? It'd be a great way to combine two of the best things in my life.


My WOD was five rounds of:

5 Burpees
10 Snatches
10 Box Jumps
15 KB swings

I finished in 14:32 with a 12 kb Kettlebell. Not too bad.

a bit too much

Yesterday, I managed to kick my own ass. My bicycle is currently my only form of transportation - aside from begging rides from friends, the bus, and my own two feet. And I hate asking for rides. So yesterday I get the brilliant idea to ride my bike to rugby practice. After having ridden my bike to and from work and from work to my kettlebell workout. It's about five miles from my apartment to practice, with a slight uphill grade, as all of Austin slopes uphill from the river. Not really all that bad, or so I think.


Yeah, right. I made it through practice and through the ride home, but man am I regretting it today! If it I hadn't had the kettlebell workout I think it would have been okay, but for right now I'm gonna stick with the bus or bumming rides.

rugby in prom dresses

Yes. Rugby in prom dresses (photos here and here). Most fabulous thing yet this summer. Saturday during the Dallas 7s tournament was the Debutante Ball - a chance for us girls to glam it up and get scrappy all at the same time. Very much fun, though I'm carrying more injuries from the short amount of rugby I played on Saturday (one 7s match and the Deb Ball) than from any of the matches I played this past spring. My favorite are the scratches from the beads on one of the other player's dress. Small price to pay for a pretty good tackle.

That's me showing off the scratches on my arm (and poking fun of my favorite BMW Mechanic). Here's a better photo of the arm injuries. They're healing nicely, but I've gotten some funny reactions to them over the past few days.

um, yeah...

So, I keep writing blog posts. I just don't actually post them. Because I read back over what I've written and they are complete crap.

There are photos from Chicago, though. If they ever make it from my camera to my external hard drive to the computer I might actually post them. But I'll keep trying to write something I actually want to share with the world.

At the moment I'm sitting in an increasingly noisy and crowded Casino El Camino alone, waiting for my friends to show up. Feeling increasingly conspicuous in my plain grey t-shirt, naturally colored hair, and naked of eye liner. Hungry, but waiting. (The fries smell amazing.) Does any good ever come of being punctual?

I Can Has Bicycle

I bought a bike. A gorgeous K2 Trailhead. I love her. She is freedom. She is a faster commute to work. And every time I see that gas prices have risen again it makes me exceptionally happy to not be driving.

Hollywood takes over Austin

Aside from the fact that the power in my apartment was out (and still is...) thanks to Wednesday night's huge storm, Thursday evening started out fairly normally. Until I actually get Nasty's and find several friends and other familiar faces milling outside between a tent of rather technical-looking lighting equipment and a large truck. There is a very different breed of people wandering around, wearing headsets or carrying walkie-talkies and looking at the group of us that is gathering like we might be vermin. Apparently someone is filming something. And they've removed the underwear which has resided on the ceiling for longer than I've been in Austin. (I do not envy the person who was assigned that job.) And Stiffler's mom is inside. From what I can see as people come in and out of the front door it's very bright inside and probably really hot from the lighting. Nasty's under strong lighting...well, it's a sight I have no interest in seeing.

The movie people don't like us, but that's too bad. The waiting regulars are griping, in that completely ineffectual way that Norm or Sam may have done on Cheers. Mike summed it up nicely, "This is a rugby bar. At 9:30 on a Thursday night. Get out of our bar." The crowd continues to grow, and to gripe. Another former rugger drives up, slowing down upon seeing the ruggers milling outside, causing pompous git walks up and asks derisively "Can I help you?" Finally someone comes outside, lets us know that this is the last shot and if we're quiet (and thus don't f*ck up the sound recording) they'll go away. Eventually, they do, though not before a sighting of the "talent." For the record, Heather Graham is a very normal-looking person in person. And Jennifer Coolidge (aka Stiffler's Mom) is a rather statuesque woman and looks exactly in person in the movies.

reasons to play

There are a myriad of reasons I play rugby. But I swear, this is definitely one of them.

Atlanta was fantastic. We lost our first game 32-24. Two tries in the last five minutes - if we'd been playing full 40 minute halves the Valks just might have won. The score in the second match was 24-0, a win for the Valks. Playing was a heck of a lot of fun and Atlanta put on a great social for us as well. Kangaroo court was excellent, per always, with some truly imaginative punishments. I truly adore travelling with my teammates. It was such a great weekend that I fell asleep nearly as soon as I sat down in my seat on the airplane and Atlanta and didn't wake up until we landed in Houston. Didn't even manage to turn off my cell phone in flight. Oops...

Spring 2008 has been a really great season for me and I'm very much looking forward to the fall. If I work hard enough this summer I may even earn my starting position back. Now that we have some down time though, I'm even more looking forward to the prospect of getting a free weekend, though between all the weddings and 7s tournaments and the men's semifinals being here in Austin I don't know when.

itchy

Seriously, there is something wrong with me. Has to be. Just looking at these pictures, from what looks to be a pretty incredible product, makes my eyes itch and I think about to sneeze. Look at number eight...I think there's another Corgi hiding in there. Despite my incredible allergic reaction to just the photographic evidence of buckets of dander using the Furminator looks like the most satisfying thing, to take a shedding pet and remove So. Much. Fur. Like picking a scab. Or trying to get the dandruff out of my show steer's tailhead when I was a kid (bet you didn't know cows could get dandruff...), trying to get out the big flakes without breaking them. Yes, kinda gross - but seriously, I think we had the cleanest show cattle ever, what with my father constantly riding us to be in the barn spraying down our steers, which probably contributed to their dry skin issues. Not to mention the depletion of the aquifer around my hometown.