old.friend.

I got an e-mail a couple of days ago from someone I knew (or who knew me) quite well, but who I haven't seen in over three years, or talked to in over one. It was such a nice surprise. It got me thinking about how people come into and leave your life, and how they change you in doing so. It was strange to think that this person knew a different me, and stranger to think about how I was different three, five, fifteen years ago. I'm much stronger and more self-assured now. I suppose it's like losing weight. When it's someone you see all the time, the change isn't as noticeable. When it's someone you haven't seen in six months, it's in-your-face obvious. Sometimes I wish I could tell the old me stuff. Now that I'm so much wiser, that is.

power.mac.g3.

I have this cute little (old) computer. Someone gave it to me, but because I'm scared of macs, I never really used it. It also has a mere 6GB of storage, which wouldn't even hold half of my music. Now I'm moving, and it can't come with me, so I have to figure out what to do with it. Any ideas?

one.down.one.to.go.

Right now I have two bedrooms. Mine, and my guest room (aka "julie's room"). When I move, I'll only have one, which means I have to drastically cut down on the amount of stuff I have. Yesterday I brought the extra bed back to my parents' house, and today I cleaned out most of what was left. The things I'm keeping are packed away in the attic space, and the things I'm selling/donating are in the hall. It's pretty cramped out there. Luckily, our yard sale is planned for saturday morning, so it will be gone in five days. Tomorrow the mattress man comes with two new twin beds. That way they'll be able to smoosh them together to have one big king when they need it, or keep them separate and have two visitors. I think I might be the first visitor and try one of them out. Ahhh....new comfy beds.

gesundheit!

I was at my parents' house for my sister's going away dinner (she's moving to sacramento for a year to work with homeless druggies and lushes) and my dad was checking out my computer. My mom was sitting next to him but with her back turned since she was playing backgammon with my aunt. All of a sudden, my dad turned towards my mom, and sneezed into his arm. He scared the pants off my mom in the process. This is the headline I'd write for the boston globe: "Local woman rests in area hospital after suffering heart attack brought on by husband's sneeze. Doctors expect a full recovery."

happy.birthday.jen!

She's the big twenty-ten today!

cookout.number.two.

Today was k and k's cookout. It was also the female k's birthday. She's younger than me by just over a month- a rare occurrence since most of my friends are older. I headed out for the festivities just after 4:30 (it's a 45 min drive to the 'burbs from boston) and got stuck in several huge thunder/lightening storms. I had to try three ways to get to the pike since the traffic was so bad, some lights were out, and a tree had fallen across the road. Wipers on full blast did little to clear the view, but thankfully, the rain passed, and I made it out there with no more problems. The cookout was super and the company hilarious. I even managed to catch the last inning of the sox/devil rays game when I got home. We won 12/6 in the 12th inning. Sweet!

it.could.only.happen.to.her.

We have an automatic grill brush like this one. We don't tend to use it since it doesn't work as well as the manual kind, and since it can't be left outside with the grill, it lives on the basement stairs. Today, we came home from the pool, and as l ran up the stairs, she bumped the brush with her foot, turning it on. E ran over to turn it off, and as she bent over to press the red button, her hair got stuck in the spinning bristles. It was really stuck in there- it wrapped tightly between the gray part and the wire bristles, and it took me forever to get out what I could. We had to snip part of it out, but it's not noticeable when her hair's brushed out. Poor thing. Of course it would happen to her.

it's.good.to.have.a.kid.along.

Today the plan was to drop the two oldest off at tennis camp and meet kelly at the reservoir for some laps. I've done this the past two days, and even though I went to the bathroom before we left the house, by the time I was running, I had to pee. Today I decided to stop somewhere to use the bathroom before meeting kelly, but there were limited options between tennis and the reservoir. I found a gas station/cumberland farms, and figured that would do. Unfortunately there were no public bathrooms, just a door that read "employees only." Luckily, I had e with me, so when I went up to the counter, I pushed her front and center and asked if they had a bathroom we could use. The manager pointed us towards the door, and apologized for the state of the bathroom. From the way he talked, I thought it would be a stinky germ-ridden pit. It wasn't. It was nice and clean, with a few closet supplies in with the sink and toilet. When we got to the reservoir, I was able to keep up without having to cross my legs and hop the last 1/2 mile.

kiva.

My brother gave me a gift certificate to kiva for my birthday. It arrived the day I was going on vacation for two weeks, so it took me a little longer than usual to check it out. I spent a good deal of time surfing around tonight, and it's really neat! Basically, you scan profiles, and pick a small business owner in a developing country to loan money to. They use this money to build their business, and repay the loan within a certain time frame. You can also check out their journal entries to see how they're using the money. Then you can pick another person and loan the money all over again! I have a few people I'm deciding between so far. I'll let you know when I choose.

run.

I had a month or so of little to no running. It was bad. I came to the conclusion that not running can't be an option- I just have to make myself do it. Starting up again was rough. My knee was killing me after only 2 miles on monday (which shouldn't have happened since taking a break is supposed to improve i.t. band issues), and my breathing is off. Today I ran outside with the jogger, and managed a few rounds of the brookline reservoir. Tomorrow I'm planning to do the same. What I really need to do is to sign up for another run. That'll put a fire under me.