The Proud Aunt

Some of you know how excited I am to be an Aunt again... so you've probably heard me talk about it, but I thought I'd put something on here for those who don't know. :)

My brother's wife is due with twins around Halloween time so they have been able to get some of the cool new ultrasound pictures of the babies. This one is awesome so I had to post it on here. Up till now the pictures have been very much like 'find the baby', but this one is insanely clear!

I hope Kevin and Kirsten don't mind that I've posted this here, but what can I say - other than I can't wait to meet them at Christmas!!!

That's a bit yawn!!

Poor Colin!!

I'm not sure if the US news has caught onto this story, but there has been an abandoned baby hump back whale off the Sydney shores. They've named him Colin and for the past few days have been trying to figure out a way to save him.... Unfortunately they haven't come up with anything and are going to put him down.

Now I'm not usually one of those big 'save the whales' type person, but I think you at least have to give it a go and try to save the poor creature. Their reasoning for not trying to pull a Shamu type rescue project is that they don't have the facilities to take care of him, the fact that he is something like 2,000 km away from where he would need to be go get his natural food once he's healthy and being raised by humans would mean he doesn't learn the hump backs language. I can understand these points... then there is the fact that his health is apparently deteriorating.

For the last days he's been going from boat to boat trying to suckle and feed. He almost got away this morning when he wasn't in his usual spot - but they've found him at a dock closer to land and so will be trying to capture him and put him down today. :( sad day

Mental Drain

I have finals next week - 4 in all - and honestly have not been able to focus on anything. Today I tried going for a run to see if that would help... nothing. It is a very frustrating feeling because I know I have mountains of studying to do, but it's almost like I don't know where to start. ugh!

Tomorrow my first task will be to sit down and make a list of everything I need to do and prioritise it. For those of you that know me, you'll understand how this will motivate me... especially once I see how long the list is!

In the mean time, I'm going for a second interview tomorrow for a 'Educator' position at lululemon. For those who don't know the brand, it's a super nice athletics wear store specialising in yoga wear. It's something that will help give me some spending money (not extra spending money... just spending money period) and help keep me from spending too much time in the bars and clubs. So keep your fingers crossed and I will post if I get the job.

Yet Another Strange & Amazing Aussie Animal

Now, we all know that Australia is full of a range of animals that are both unique and odd. There are the obvious things such as the koala and kangaroo. Then there are the spiders, snakes, jellyfish and various other things that can kill you. But I think I have found the animal that takes the cake for strange/fascinating/just plain odd... it's the Lyre Bird.

This bird mimics all the sounds it hears in the forests of Southern Australia... so that obviously includes the other birds and animals. What makes it so strange is that this bird also mimics the human noises it hears... so in its orchestra are camera shutters, car alarms and even chain saws! When I first heard about this I figured it would be similar sounds - but watch this clip and you'll be able to understand why this I think this is so amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y

Extreme Sadness...

So I knew that I was going to take a hit with the exchange rate being a lot worse now than when my loans were quoted... but never did I expect it to be this bad. Without airing my financial woes let me put it in this context.

Loans Quoted: $.85 USD = $1 AUD
$8.50 USD = $10.00 AUD

Today: $.95 USD = $1 AUD
$9.50 USD = $10.00 AUD


Ugh is the best way to describe my feelings today. Tomorrow I begin to hunt for a part-time job on a serious basis. :(

Man I'm looking forward to having an income again!!

14Ks Run/Dodge...

Today was the city to surf run which was 14Ks of beautiful scenery and great running. The only problem was that our group was 'the back of the pack,' and it literally was the back of the pack. Considering there were 70,000 people running you can imagine how packed it was. I think I spent more time dodging in and out of the crowd of walkers than actually running... very frustrating! But I FINISHED!!! I must also thank Kirby (my sister) and my Dad - read on to find out how.

When I was little I would always go watch my sisters play sports. With Kirby it was the cross country meets at Carmichael, Yakima, then later in Seattle. Jodie was tennis matches in Pasco, Yakima, and other various places. Being young and rambunctious little kid I remembered Kirby's events more because I was able to run around and do more... with tennis I usually just ended up getting in trouble or skinning my knees. In addition to having tons of memories I always used to try to run with my Dad as he would encourage Kirby on the uphill and downhill parts. (My Dad was a pretty stellar runner himself.) For the uphills it was things like "attack the hill" and downhill it was more about using the hill to relax. And now to add relevance to this story...

Today's run included an infamous hill called heartbreak hill... as I was dodging people I heard the 'attach the hill' in my mind to help motivate. Then the downhills I was almost laughing at the others who were struggling and, while my knees might not agree, I found it very relaxing.

I didn't run the entire thing (there was a bad experience with stomach cramping and dizziness somewhere around 5K) but I would say I ran at least 12-13 K, which is WAY more than any other run I've done. The times aren't in but I will post the results when I get them... for now I just hope I will be able to walk tomorrow.

Now the question is if I'll keep up the training and stay in shape....

Salvation in Drugs

OK so I know the title of this blog will raise some eyebrows... but they are all legal drugs. Before I get into the basis of my salvation I must give some context.

A while back I wrote about how I am training for a 14 kilometer run. Training pretty much stopped when school work became so busy I hardly had time to shower let alone run. So this week I have been ramping up my efforts in a feeble attempt to get in shape - the run in tomorrow. I had mapped out a plan to run 5K Saturday, 7K on Monday, 10K on Wednesday and another 10K on Friday. Everything was going well and on Wednesday I ended up running 7K but then made up for it with a 40 minute basketball game w/ no substitutes.

Friday morning I woke up with back spasms which made it very hard to sit in certain positions, bend over, twist, or do anything that required my lower back to move... I spend the day laying in bed working on my laptop in a very odd position in the hopes of my back getting better. Alas today I am not in as much pain but it still hurts. Now comes the drugs....

Back in the days of good old RHS my coaches would always carry a little jar of this balm called Tiger Balm. Now this is a 'natural' version of icey hot but only did the hot part. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw they have Tiger Balm here. Today I have been liberally applying far more than the recommended amount and this combined with one Advil liquid cap has made it so I can actually function without looking like I have a large stick inserted in certain orifices.

Tomorrows run will be a different story. My plan is to take a couple Advil, apply the balm liberally, and walk the uphills (which there are a couple doosies). We'll see if I'm able to move on Monday though...

ABBA Invasion

I'm not sure how big the movie Mama Mia is in the states... and to be honest its not that big here. However, I went with my flat mates to see it and have not been able to escape ABBA since.

The more time I spend in the world I find how sheltered I was to so many things. Now this may be a good thing to be sheltered from... will leave it to you. However until recently I didn't know who ABBA was, or that they had an entire Broadway show made from their songs. Crazy...

Now for the movie, Meryl looked amazing for her age, but Pierce on the other hand. I think I winced every time he started singing - it was that bad. For my family members who had to suffer through my singing on road trips, I am a better singer than him... just to put it into perspective.

To make matters even worse there are now commercials on TV for Ultimate ABBA and I haven't been able to get their songs out of my head. I seriously thing I've gone slightly insane.

If you haven't seen it and are an ABBA fan - go... if you aren't save yourself the time and wait till it comes out on DVD. And you might want to stay away from tin foil......