Wearing yellow

Saturday I dragged my sick husband out to go clothes shopping. We were shopping for him, since his clothes supply has been dwindling, and I thought a comforting occupation for someone with a sore throat and headache would be shoving through back-to-school crowds in clothing stores.
Now of course I had to buy myself some clothes, too. I saw this chartreuse T-shirt on clearance (for $3.49 after 30% off clearance price!) and loved the bright color.

I wore it to church like this, with a black and white scarf and nude pumps:

Trying to show you my bun

Then I dressed it down with flip flops:

And I wanted to mention that I know it's sort of against style rules to wear yellow by your face, but I love yellow. I think it actually can be worn well by some people, as long as:
- You have pink color in your lips and cheeks. The yellow actually sets the pink off well.
- You follow warm-cool rules - wear cool yellows if you have a cool complexion; warm if you're warm complected.
- You have contrast with your hair. Sorry, I don't like yellow on blondes. It washes their hair out.

Don't mind the phone in the picture or the fact that I'm staring intently into the corner

This very oddly-taken picture was supposed to demonstrate the effects of yellow on skin tone, but instead it made me look a little alien. What I meant to show, though, is that yellow does reflect on the skin, but mostly just under the chin. So as long as you choose a flattering yellow, it shouldn't make you appear jaundiced.

Do you wear yellow? And what's the last item of clothing you bought?

Boston registration is coming up!

A few days ago I got an email from the B.A.A. hinting that perhaps I should plunk down some big bucks to try again at the Boston Marathon. Right about that same time they sent a finisher's certificate (straight to recycle bin) and a racer's record book. Clever move, B.A.A. Of course reading the book got me in the mood to race! I have BQ time, so I could register.
Maybe I should. After all...
1. I ran a slow, hot Boston this year. Do I need redemption?
2. A couple of people I know are running it and it would be a fun group. For one of the girls in the Varsity running group, it is her first Boston, and she's been getting faster and faster so I'd love to run it with her.
3. By April I should be over my injury and have time to train for a fast race.
Or not. I mean...
1. I'm injured. Not bright to sign up for a race right now.
2. I promised the running world to stop signing up for every marathon that I read about.
3. Thanks to deferments, there will be some 2000 fewer spots in this race. It's someone else's turn. I'm confident that if I can get healthy I will BQ in the future and can do Boston some other year, but 2013 might be the only chance for others out there for whatever reason.

I'm leaning toward a "no" on this one but I haven't totally shut the door on Boston 2013 yet.
In the meantime I enjoyed reading the record book.

Look at this, first page of female finishers -

There I am! Female #237!

Insane that a 3:24 gets you a top 250 finish in that heat. Insane. In 2011's ideal weather you would have needed a 3:09 to be #239. That's kind of funny because I probably would have run a 3:09 in better conditions. My PR is a 3:06 but since Boston is hilly and my PR is flat I'd add some a few minutes. What I am trying to say in a convoluted way is that the heat is a great equalizer - slows us all the same.

I love and adore going through the numbers like this. I miss it since being injured. I can't wait to race again!
Who is planning to register for Boston this year? What week do you register?

Dilemma

Hope your weekend is stress-free! Happy Friday!

My work fell apart and "date" anniversary

Here is the story of how my workplace fell apart on Friday. Let's do a day-by-day, shall we?
Monday: My store starts getting ready for the hurricane. I know I am scheduled for a 3:30 am install of a major new system on Tuesday. I spent all day calling to confirm that this install would indeed still take place, despite the fact that we planned to close Tuesday at noon as stormy weather would be there by the afternoon. The technicians were adamant. They would be there Tuesday at 3:30 am. So I went home and went to bed early.
Tuesday: I got up at 3:00 am and checked my phone - charging downstairs. Lo and behold, a missed call from 10:30 the night before (when I was sound asleep) - the technician canceling the install! I WAS PISSED. When I dragged my exhausted self in to work later that morning, the system installation team had already left several frantic messages. They are in Illinois, and were panicked about the cancellation. The deadline for install was September 1st, and they wanted to know what went wrong. I explained that their technician cancelled and they were kind of rude about it. They were not understanding that I couldn't promise that the install would be done by deadline. For one thing, I knew nothing about the storm's effects yet; for another, I can't come in  at 3:30 am for an install and stay until 6 pm. That's not even safe. I could only do it if someone came in to relieve me or if I was closing early. Oh, and yeah - I didn't cancel the stupid thing; their contractor did!
Wednesday: We were closed through the storm. The install team had the audacity to email my boss and demand an install on Wednesday. Helloooo, we are in the middle of a storm.
Thursday: I requested an install on Thursday, because while the hospital was still on lock-down, I was able to open the store. But there were no technicians to do it. Late Thursday afternoon I was told that Friday was the absolute last day, so they were driving a team in overnight from Arkansas. I agreed to meet them at 8:00 am - an hour early - for the install.
Friday: The team showed up and ripped out my registers and servers and generally made a gigantic mess while I rushed to help the many customers on a very busy day. I was swamped, but all my systems kept going down throughout the day! Finally the installers left, but - right after they left everything started to break. That includes:
1. One register's cash drawer would not close.
2. One front terminal did not work.
3. The ordering system was unavailable, so I could not order any drugs.
4. The phones completely died, could not dial out or in.
5. The back office printer began printing garbage and continued to do so for 2 hours until I just let it jam.
6. The end of day reports would not run.
7. The scanners we use to scan drugs to determine that they are the correct item lost connection.
In frustration I tried to call in all the problems to the service desk, but I was also extremely busy and by myself - my only technician was helping her family after the storm. I was dying! When I was finally ready to leave - an hour late - all of the sudden very loud country music started blaring out of the phone speaker in the office! That was the last straw! I threw that stupid phone on the floor and left!

The next week I did finally get the place fixed but boy, was it a mess. The installers had missed several key server migration steps, hence the collapse of all systems. Insane. Now I'm just left trying to figure everything out with the new system: I never had any training on the darn thing!

I drowned my sorrows in sushi. A new sushi place opened just blocks from us and David and I went there to celebrate the 8th anniversary of the day we met!  David - cutie that he is - always remembers this date and I always forget and then pretend that I didn't. I'm terrible with dates.

That first day we got to know each other over sushi, so a sushi date made sense. Turns out that this place has a very affordable happy hour from 5 to 7. We had complimentary miso soup and cucumber-crab salad, followed by crab shumai and four different rolls - then a complimentary fruit salad! - all for under $21.00. I kid you not. Less than $30 including tip! We will certainly be visiting Kakkoii again!

Injury: Where y@?*

Time to add to my injury timeline! Where we last left off, my PT rediscovered my scoliosis, prompting a whole new list of exercises that left me first totally lame, and then remarkably better. 
For a day. Or like 8 hours.
Then I relapsed - in fact, I had so much pain at one point that I couldn't sleep, and I can sleep through a hurricane. True story.
Well, I'm creeping back slightly now. I didn't workout at all during the hurricane (too awkward with the no-power, the staying at peoples'  houses, the traveling), but once we got to Atlanta for the weekend I got in a hilly run Sunday morning. I was enjoying the much cooler weather and feeling a strong sense of déjà vu - until I realized that I was actually running a portion of the Publix marathon course!
I think uphills can be easy on joints, because the loop I ran was mainly uphill and I felt almost ok afterward. Of course, there was swelling and pain, but not crippling. And right now. just standing is painful so no biggie, right?
Then Monday I actually joined the track group for a workout. Boy, am I out of shape! I ran to the track, did their warmup, then started the workout. It was 10x(300meter at mile pace, 100 meter jog), then a 400 meter jog, then 800 at mile pace. I started with the 6-min mile group and should have sailed easily through the exercise, but actually I was winded two laps in! I started to get back into it by my 3rd lap, but by lap five I was feeling mild pain. I knew I still had to run back home (a mile) and I didn't want to push it, so I quit early and jogged home.
That was the right choice, because this morning I did not wake up in pain.

I think I am making slow headway, and it's partially because I've made a few changes to my routine:
- My PTs did not recommend any core work, but I read many anecdotes in which core work really helped. I tend to agree with this, because one thing I dropped last winter (when I got injured) was core work. So I added in some transverse abdominus work.
- I've been alternating heat and cold on the site. I made a heating pad out of a sock filled with oatmeal. I microwave it and put it in my lap while I eat or type, then swap it for ice.
- New rule: if it hurts, don't do it. Period. This means some of my PT exercises, too.
- No running two days in a row (I did Sunday and Monday, but it was early Sunday morning and late Monday night).
- Avoid popping the joint. I know this is probably revolting, but my pelvis now pops, and sometimes I just can't resist it. But that can't be good for it, right?

So that's my status and my plan. Any other advice? Pile it on, people!

* It's a NOLA thing.

Hurrication

We lost power on Monday before Hurricane Isaac made landfall, and thanks to its slow-moving ways we didn't get power back for a week! Luckily we were able to spend a few days with David's parents, who never lost power, and then we followed out plans that we'd made pre-hurricane and flew to Atlanta for the holiday weekend. Our god-children live there and we had a lovely visit with them. They are so precocious. Eddie just turned five, but for some reason he's preoccupied with aging. At lunch one day I pulled out my lip balm and of course, all the kids had to try it. Eddie, however, paused first. "What does it do?" he kept asking me. I told him it sort of made your lips puffy and soft. "Well, ok, then," he agreed. "I just wanted to make sure it doesn't give you those lines in your lips like you and mommy have."
Thee trip was not only a chance to see the godbabies (and my sister - we met for a quick coffee Sunday afternoon), it was the perfect excuse to not sit at home without power. So we really did ok as far as having to entertain ourselves without electricity.
Unfortunately uptown lost a lot of trees, mostly because we have had so much rain this year that the ground was soggy even before Isaac showed up. The added rain turned the ground to mush, and trees didn't have the stability to withstand the winds. I hate losing trees.

I'm loathing going to work tomorrow - for reasons I'll discuss later, but I will briefly tell you that it involves a new system, worst phrase known to man - but for tonight I'll leave you with some Isaac pictures.

Trying to let in light and wind in our living room on Wednesday.  

Trees on cars :(

Loyola law school lost some big old oaks 

Broadway was impassable thanks to another oak

And more trees on cars.

Alive. Hot. Sweaty.

Stinky fridge. Water-stained bedroom. Mildew on the walls. Mold on the toilet seat. But our power is finally back on!