They like me! They really really like me!!

I was incredibly thrilled to get the following email yesterday:

March 8, 2007

To: Jennifer George

Dear Jennifer,

Congratulations! On behalf of the faculty and administration of the Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development, I am pleased to inform you of your admission to the School. This offer is testimony to your academic accomplishments thus far and to our conviction that you have the capability and motivation to succeed in our program.

Financial aid decisions are still in process, and will be included in the official offer letter you will receive within the next two weeks. The admission offer will include materials regarding registration, health insurance, etc. Please take the time to read through the whole packet, as it addresses many questions posed by new students.

I wish you sincere congratulations on being selected as a Warner School student. Best wishes as you begin graduate studies and embark on a new chapter of your academic life.

Kindest regards,
Michelle M. Ames
Director of Admissions

YAHOO! I was pretty excited, especially since the announcement was completely unexpected. I had gotten an email last week saying that the admissions committee would meet on 3/7 and financial aid on 3/8 and that letters would be mailed by 3/19. I was STUNNED to open this email yesterday and it complete caught me off guard. Holy cow! I let out a shriek and then started stomping my feet and clapping like a chimpanzee on crack. What an idiot. Basically most of the office came running to see what the commotion was. Nothing much. Just admitted into a doctoral program! *phew*

It is a weird kind of let down now that I know. The anticipation is cool and sucks all at the same time. Now I shift into semi-panic mode. Where am I going to live? How am I going to pay for it? Am I going to continue with work? Will I have enough time for Maggie and running? Will I have time to sleep? I know that it will all work itself out.

The night before last I had another dream that involved swans. There were two white swans swimming on a glassy pond in the forest. Apparently swans mean a prosperous outlook and delightful experiences. Whatever. I will take it.

Maggie is here at work with me today. My coworker gave her red peppers, french fries, part of a fish sandwich and TARTAR SAUCE. What do you suppose happened? Oh yeah. She barfed all over the floor. So, as I was cleaning it up it only seemed right to make my own barfing noises while she finished eating her lunch. I need to go finish scrubbing the floor. It's so disgusting.

Hoping for a five-ish mile run tonight. My right knee is a little sore, but I took last night off so I am back on the wagon tonight.

No big weekend plans. Just hanging around Auburn. Blockbuster notified me that they have mailed Curious George (the movie), so I am sure that will be the highlight of my weekend. I hope I don't get too out of control. Somebody stop me!

An odd dream...

I typically don't remember my dreams, but as of late I have been having many and have been remembering them. Last week I had several that involved Gunnar. Last night I had one that involved the guy from my last "relationship." I've never dreamt about him, so I am not entirely sure what prompted this little unconscious wandering.

I dreamt that we were with his friends (which we typically were) and that we were in a car and I was driving (which I typically was). We were headed to a party (which is where we were typically headed) in an unknown town for St. Patrick's Day. The streets were filled with people partying and he was hanging with his friends, ignoring me. I was going to go to the party, but realized there was a trailer full of junk that I needed to empty before I could go to the party. I began emptying the junk and I am not sure where it went. That is pretty much the basis of the dream.

Of course, we could pick this apart without the help of a book, however Susan loaned me some dream books last week when I mentioned that I had been remembering them more frequently. This morning I looked up as many of the things as I could, and they are pretty obvious.

Of course my driving symbolized how I was moving through life. Am I being driven or am I the driver? In the dream I was the driver and I believe that in my life I AM the driver. The junk represented outdated attitudes or unfinished business that I have been carrying around or unable to resolve (geee...do ya think?). I think it was a good sign that I was emptying the junk. I am going to take that as a sign of continued forward movement. I'll bet you'll never guess about the party... Of course it symbolized a celebration that would be upcoming. The book said that over 50% of men studied had been unknowingly been expecting a child when they dreamt of a celebration. Just to set the record straight I am not expecting. It's impossible since I have stuck to the no Y chromosome philosophy (which seems to be working really well for me, actually). ANYWAY...the admissions committee at the University of Rochester meet today and the Financial Aid committee meet tomorrow. I hope the party dream was timely and truly symbolic.

That's it. Just wanted to share before I forgot all of it.

Buh bye...good riddance...not sure why I hold onto things that are so obviously wrong for so ridiculously long.

Return of the barracuda.

The snow day only partially worked. All of the schools in Seneca County were closed, but The Barracuda and her gang were still hanging around and came in around 10:00. I found this description of a barracuda online and it seems appropriate at this point:

Barracudas occur both singly and in schools around reefs, but also appear in open seas. They are voracious predators and hunt using a classic example of lie-in-wait or ambush. They rely on surprise and short bursts of speed (up to 27mph (43 km/h)[2]) to overrun their prey, sacrificing maneuverability.

The larger barracuda are more or less solitary in their habits. Young and half-grown fish frequently congregate in shoals. Their food is composed almost totally of fishes of all kinds. Large barracudas, when gorged, may attempt to herd a shoal of prey fish in shallow water, where they guard over them until they are ready for another meal.

This is pretty similar to how our "technical assistant" works. Sometimes she comes alone, but this time she decided to bring her school. One really small one and one REALLY REALLY big one (I'm not kidding). She is indeed a voracious predator, waiting for a chance to pounce on something whether it is more vulnerable or not. She barks her commands/demands/reprimands, in forceful bursts that aren't always so short. Sorry about my luck. She definitely seriously enjoys figuratively running over her prey, but could run them over physically as well. I am not an easy one to run over and it did take a couple of drive forwards and back upwards to finally run me over, but she did it.

She will feed on fish of all kinds - everything from Executive Directors to Assistant Site Coordinators and everything in between. When she gets in a feeding frenzy things get ugly and she gets gleeful. She does attempt to shoal prey into shallow water and hovers over until she can attack. She said today (and I quote) "Well, Jennifer never calls me!" Oh yes. Waiting and watching and getting ready to eat.

I tried to sit and be quiet and let her flail. I really did. I sat and I felt the anger and the defensiveness rising to the surface, but I tried to just brush it off and not take it to me. That usually doesn't work well for me. When I am feeling threatened and/or wronged I can not hold my thoughts as much as I try. I admit that it can be a liability in both my personal and professional life. Anyway, she was coming at me again and again and again regarding an issue that she was WAY off base. I finally could no longer take the one sided accusations against me and I let it fly. I felt the tremble in my throat and the stinging in my eyes. Dammit!

I cried. I smacked my hands and spoke in a direct way. I looked that barracuda in the eye and told her I was tired of her seeing things one sided and nothing being the right answer to anything she asked. I was tired of defending a program that I have brought a long way in three months. I am pissed that I have inherited a crappy program with crappy staff. I ave done what I can in the time that I have had with the people whom I have. Just for the record I did not sob or heave or hyperventilate. It was that mad angry cry that so many of you are familiar with. Of course after I said what I said, I shut down and that was the end of my day with the barracuda.

She may be a barracuda, but I am ultimately the mighty fisherman. She can come and feed on my staff and I, but I am the one who can pull her ass out of the water when I don't renew her contract. Eat that you mean, nasty pig. Don't think that I won't. It is my plan and I will get my way on this one.

I should have known that today would be no better than yesterday. When I awoke, both Seneca and Cayuga Counties were in states of emergency. The ED called and said that we should come in when the state was lifted. Not long after the call, the state was lifted and I was headed to work. At the second stoplight I literally came this ( ) close to sliding into a Red Bull Energy Drink delivery truck. THANK GOD I did not hit that stupid van. That really would have sucked.

After work I headed to the Y and the elliptical machine. I figured the knees and hip could use a break from the impact of running. So, anyway, here I am minding my business on the elliptical when 12 minutes into a 40 minute workout my iPod battery dies. Argh. Okay. I can deal. it's no huge thang. I managed to finish up and then do a circuit on the Nautilus. After that I was finally headed home.

I actually "cooked" tonight making some chicken for a spinach salad. Stuffed.

Now I am hanging on the couch with the Magpie drinking an Ellicottville Brewing Company blueberry wheat beer. How long until summer?

My life as a turtle.

I got a very pleasant surprise from Mama Kristin Hillman yesterday afternoon! She sent me pictures of my visit with the babies. Please notice how thrilled Nicholas is to be in my arms...

I would have thought that the double chin would have been gone by now. That drives me NUTS!

Katie challenged me to an 8 minute mile today just to see what it feels like. Shaa! As if. Fat chance. Wasn't happening. Maybe I could run an eight minute mile if one mile was all that I did. Given the day that I had at work today, though, I needed much more than one mile. I am slow. I just am. I admit it and am trying to embrace that fact.

I headed to the YMCA tonight with the goal of breaking a 30 minute 5K. I have seemed to have some kind of block that I could not break a 30 minute 5K. Frustrating! So, I hopped onto the treadmill and set it at a 6.6. Considering that I hang somewhere around 5.5 or 5.8 at the highest, 6.6 was speedy. It felt like my legs would fly off my body. I stayed at this pace for about 13 minutes and then lowered it to a 6.4. At some point I did lower all the way to a 5.5, but eventually got back up to a pretty steady 6.4 and ended the last 400m at 7.0. I am sure you are completely bored now. What I am saying is that I was running my ass off, literally. It felt good and I was pushing hard. I finished the 5K in 29'17. At least I broke the 30 minute barrier. I also chopped two minutes and one second from my last 5K. I consider that to be significant. I guess I will take it.

Work was kind of like hell today. Our "technical assistant" who resembles a beluga whale but acts like a pit bull is in town for - get this -THREE days. It was ugly this morning with her pointing fingers at me accusing me of setting her up. I don't know. Don't ask. She was all kinds of annoyed that we had asked for written reports (imagine that!) and that I hadn't given her all of the information that she needed for the context she was working in (what?). She comes traveling from downstate with a thermal cooler full of Tab soda and an entire bag of Werther's that she sits and crunches as she barks at me. I couldn't make this stuff up. She has to have a special chair and go to the special restaurant for her special garlic chicken wings which are disgusting to look at let alone watch her eat. It is like a vulture hovering over a dead raccoon picking it apart. I can hardly wait for tomorrow morning. Let's hope for a snow day. Please dear God dump six feet of snow on us. I went to church this weekend, that's gotta count for something!

Mom is now officially living back in Pennsylvania and has christened the new house with her first fall, including a head smash against the driveway. That's my mom. Something to look forward to...

I am currently watching Wife Swap and am once again happy that I am single. I think that giving up the Y chromosome for Lent was a great idea!

By the way....if I don't post tomorrow it is because I died in the night from Maggie's silent-but-deadlies. Good lord. You would think she's been out scavening like a vulture on a raccoon. Gag.

A party in the Old First Ward.

Today was the Buffalo Old First Ward Shamrock Run. The mood was festive. The pack was large. The wind was cold. Really really cold. Had it not been for the wind it may have been a great mid-winter kind of day, but the wind was just absolutely brutal. Holy cold. It was the kind of wind that literally takes your breath away and I had big problems with it. There were times that I was running with my head sideways trying to catch air without sucking in huge gusts.

I am not making excuses, but I am relatively sure that the strong winds contributed to the nasty side stitch I caught probably around half a mile or three-quarters of a mile in. It was the worst cramp that I have ever had and for a minute or two absolute nausea swept my gut. I thou gt I was going to lose it. I stopped and walked a bit trying to take deep breaths in and really exhaling as long and hard as I could. That does help, but it also adds time to the clock, which I didn't want to do. I am thinking that I added at least 45 seconds to my time (probably more) trying to rid myself of the nastiness. I shoved my knuckles into my side trying to get it to go. I did finally manage to lose most of it and then faced a hill. It came back, but not as strong as initially. That pretty much just sucked.

I had my Nike+ with me and was happy to learn that it really was pretty accurate. At the two mile mark, I hit my middle button and it spit out that I had run 2.04 miles. I consider that to be pretty darn close. The actually race is an 8K (4.97 miles) and my Nike registered it as 5.09 miles. Considering that it registers distance by foot strike, I am considering that decently accurate. It throws the pace time off a bit, but I can deal with it. I will just make sure that I run an extra .02 per mile that I want to run. If I am planning a 5-miler, I need to run 5.15 miles to be sure I did get the actually mileage. Can deal with it.

I really do enjoy running outside and need to do it more often. In Wellsville I had a great route that I enjoyed running, but in Auburn I haven't found anything longer than 2 or 2.5 miles that is safe. Running outside is completely different, no matter how often you run inside trying to prepare. Treadmills aren't the same and tracks aren't the same. You can't factor wind. That freakin' wind.

I was really hoping to beat Katie today - not that I am competitive. I'm not. But in all of the runs that we've done, Katie has always dusted me. The bitch did it again today (and I mean that in the most affectionate way). We were running together and then before I knew it, I was birthing a cramp and trying to run a steady pace (which my Nike+ says I did) and Katie was gone! She came across the line something like three minutes before I did. I am going to work my ass off to not be so far behind at the Hornell Shamrock Race. Now it is probably on because she will know my race strategy. Pretty sure it won't make a difference anyway! I think that she would run with a broken foot and still push to the end. She has more determination and probably guts than a lot of people I know. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to cross the line before her someday, though! Oh...and I will....I hope...

Overall, I was pleased with how I ran today considering the wind, the cold air that my lungs aren't used to and the hills that my legs aren't used to. It isn't like the hills were enormous, but they had a decent distance to them (they were entrances to a bridge). It was enough to expend a little more energy. I was a little bummed because I had no idea where the finish was and I could have pushed a little harder a little earlier had I known that it was as close as it was. It's okay, though. I finished 406/1436. Not too bad. At least I was in the top half of the pack! Granted, there were walkers and probably some drunks, but again...who cares?

I would like to give special thanks to the following for pulling me through the run:
Queen - Fat Bottomed Girls
Spiderbait - Black Betty (twice!)
Pat Benator - Heartbreaker
Kid Rock - Bawitdaba
Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Jay-Z - 30 Something (because 30 IS the new 20)
Def Leppard - Let's Get Rocked
AC/DC - Thunderstruck
P. Diddy - Tell Me

Random and bizarre mix. Not really a classic rock kind of girl, but apparently I am when running!

I am seriously pooped from being out in the cold. When I got home I took Mags out and then came in, poured a glass of wine, and hopped into a bubble bath with John Mayer. Enjoyable. I always finish a bath with a shower to get the gunk off (aka soap). So, here I am in the shower and I hear a pounding on my door. I am trying to enjoy my shower. Maggie is barking and the banging isn't stopping. I get out, try to dry off and head to the door to peek through the peep hole to see who it was. The downstairs neighbor. Thankfully, the FEMALE downstairs neighbor.

She proceeds to tell me that she has water gushing through her ceiling. I have no idea why. I didn't overflow the bathtub, although I did have it as full as I could without it all draining out the top drain. I can't imagine that there was that much water that leaked, but apparently so. So, here I am in the hallway with a towel on my head and mismatched jammies trying to figure out what's going on in the middle of a small crowd that has gathered at this point.

The female downstairs neighbor is very nice, by the way. I am not sure what she is doing with el jerko, but to each their own, I guess. Just for good measure as she was walking away I was sure to ask if we were being quiet enough and if the music was too loud. She said, "Shoot girl! I love your music! You make my day! You keep on playing your music!" Okay then. I guess I will.

So here I sit on the couch - clean, warm, and with a glass of wine. Pretty good day, overall, I would say!

I am "expressive"! Imagine that!

Today was the first day of a "staff development" experience called People Styles. A few weeks ago we had to have people complete a questionnaire about how they see us. From these profiles, they came up with four quadrants that a person could fall into and then sub quadrants of those first quadrants. So, anyway I am an amiable expressive personality style. What does that mean one may ask? Well.... Here is a description:

Expressive - Very outgoing and enthusiastic, with a high energy level. They are also great idea generators, but usually do not have the ability to see the idea through to completion. They enjoy helping others and are particularly fond of socializing. They are usually slow to reach a decision. Often thought of as a talker, overly dramatic, impulsive, and manipulative.

Some other descriptors:

verbal
motivating
enthusiastic
convincing
impulsive
influential
charming
confident
dramatic
optimistic
animated

I'm not sure how I feel about the word "manipulative." I guess that I do have to manipulate situations sometimes to meet objectives and goals. Is it my fault that people can't just do things that need to be done without acting like asses. They give me no choice, really.

We have another day of this training crap tomorrow.

Had another decent run tonight. I can't seem to break the 30 minute 5K mark, unless my Nike+ is still not calibrated correctly. I felt like the road runner tonight and still logged a 31 minute 5K. Oy vay!

Tomorrow will be no run in an effort to rest the legs for Saturday. I am excited to do a "race" again. God knows that I will not be in the running (no pun intended) for an age group medal, so for me it really isn't a race. It is just a run with a lot of other people around me! Should be fun!

Just what is my style, anyway?

I've been super busy at work the last couple of days and haven't had much time to blog. I also haven't been taking my computer home at night, which is when I typically post.

Anyway, today and tomorrow we have to suffer through workshops called "People Styles" where they are going to tell me what kind of person I am based on a self-assessment and assessemnets from five other people. Can I hardly wait?

I got an email from the U of R admissions yesterday. Decision letters will be sent by March 19. I hope it comes a bit sonner than that, though.

Off to Canandaigua... Will hopefully post more tonight!