Every now and again I find myself in a conversation about high school - fashion, dances, sports, and even course content. Every time without fail, we start talking about the great books we had to read. I throw in the Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh but fall short of naming off American or British classic works. I've decided since I actually now enjoy and have the time to read, I'm going to catch up on the books I never had to read. My first choice was Of Mice and Men. I started reading it today over my lunch hour and didn't want to put tit down to go back to work. I was immediately drawn in by the relationship of Lennie and George as they talked in the woods. I don't know the plot of the story so I'm intrigued to see where it goes in the few 100 pages. It's an easy, short read, and I expect I'll finish it quite quickly.
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I think we can all agree (well, at least all the ladies) that Channing Tatum is hot. And an amazing dancer. I had heard Magic Mike is entertaining for the half naked men but the acting and plot were less than memorable. I decided to give it a try anyway. Sure enough I was wowed by his moves and six pack. Matthew McConaughey's body was rocking, and I totally appreciated seeing Adam Rodriguez (Delko from CSI: Miami) as one of the other strippers. The copy I rented was scratched so a few parts skipped. Fortunately, the plot is easy enough to follow it wasn't an issue. I envy the actresses who got to play the women at the shows.
I held of as long as I could, but it just didn't make any sense to keep avoiding it. For the more serious cycling types, there are special cycling shoes and pedals you can use to improve your riding. Lucas has a pair Shimano clip-in shoes for his specialty pedals on his road bike. Since I am riding his road bike for my upcoming triathlon, I figured I needed a pair of shoes too.
We stopped over at Bike World in Urbandale to check out the selection. Two pairs were priced at $250 and were immediately crossed off my list. So I tried on two other pairs. The Pearl didn't fit my foot correctly thanks to my bigger arch and general foot size. The Shimano fit very well and could accommodate my arch with its three straps; the Pearl only had two straps. Right after purchasing them for $115 plus the $35 cleats to clip-in to the pedal, I went for a ride. I spent about 5 minutes in the parking lot practicing clipping in and out of the pedals. You have to twist your heal to the outside to unlock the cleat. It's not super easy so I wanted to make sure I felt comfortable before speeding off. Fortunately, I didn't need to unclip for the entire 12.5 mi ride. Within minutes, I could tell the difference in my riding. These shoes allow you to go faster than when you're just wearing tennis shoes because you can use the push down and pull up motion on the pedals. I was able to maintain about 2-3 mph faster than I usually do. In a race, that will make a difference. Now all I need is my very own road bike... and the $1000 or so to buy one. Donations welcome! After nearly three weeks of non-stop listening, I finally finished the book Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side on CD. The book has to be nearly 500 pages because it took nine CD's to narrate it. The last audiobook I listened to was only four CDs. Had I been reading this book, I would have stopped early on. However, since I was just mindlessly listening to it, I continued until the end. I'm also not a fan of not finishing books. There's only one I can think of off-hand that I just stopped reading mid-book.
The author, Beth Fantaskey, is anything but a fantastic writer. I feel bad saying that, but her writing just didn't do it for me. Every sentence was completely over detailed, and whole scenes could have been dropped. The book is written from the perspective of the main character Jessica Packwood, who is a high school senior math nerd living in a small rural town in Pennsylvania. Yet, some of the words she wrote did not sound like the thoughts or words of any 18-year-old girl I knew. On another note, I think the title is misleading. I think something else would have better captured the mood of the story. There is a sequel. I will not be reading it. You ever get a craving you just have to satisfy? I do. Today, it was sushi. I usually eat sushi once a month. Any longer than that and I start to crave it. I decided I would walk over to Miyabi 9 in the East Village for lunch to quench this craving. As I walked there by way of East 5th, I noticed a little eatery called City Bakery. I felt like I'd heard of it before but couldn't remember specifically. I made a mental note to come back another day to check it out. That day came about 10 minutes later when I arrived at Miyabi 9 only to find out its closed on Mondays. My sushi fix would have to wait.
City Bakery is a modern space with cement floors, simple tables and chairs and little decoration. You order at the counter, and they bring your meal to your table. I had a tough time deciding what to order. From eggs to pizza and proteins salads to sandwiches, there was quite the range of options. I'm a sucker for quiche so I ordered that along with an apple avocado salad. My total was about $9 which I always consider anything under $10 a good deal. The meat quiche was light and moist. The crust was just as light as the egg part and not too dry. The salad was crisp and refreshing, which complimented the quiche and made for a healthy meal. I wasn't able to post this until now. If you have 5 minutes check out the video my 48 Hour Film Project team Continental Shift created. We were given a genre, prop, character, and line of dialogue to include in a 4-7 minute film put together in just 48 hours.
Banana, zucchini, pumpkin, blueberry... I've tried plenty of flavors of bread and like them all (pumpkin is my favorite). So when I was at a friend's house for Bunco and saw a loaf of bread, I grabbed a few slices figuring I'd like it. I took a bite and immediately enjoyed it, but I couldn't place the flavor. Turns out - it was strawberry bread. In the picture you can tell it looks a tad pink, but in person, I couldn't see that. The recipe seems simple enough; I'm excited to give it a try at the next potluck or get together I host.
While I like to think I can hold my own in many activities (volleyball, softball, cheerleading, gymnastics, triathlons, salsa dancing), mini golf is not one of them. I don't even pretend to be good at it. I go in full well knowing I will suck and suck and suck some more. Otherwise, if I go in with a glimmer of hope that I'll be decent, I end up getting pissed off by the ninth hole and want to call it quits. When you're as competitive as me, it's hard to remind yourself it's just mini golf.
Today Lucas and I went mini golfing for a friend's birthday. I have never been mini golfing in Des Moines. Seeing how much I suck at it, it is not something I would pursue on my own. As such, this was not only my first time at West Grand Golf, but also my first time mini golfing with Lucas. Now Lucas is not a big golfer and there are some activities (all the ones listed above) that I excel at more than he does. Regardless, it doesn't take much to be better than me at anything golf related. Lucas was the only one out of our group of eight to get a hole in one (on hole 5, I believe). Without completely embarrassing myself, I came in just 6 points behind him and even beat a few people in our group. The 18-hole course was fun and affordable. It cost $7 per adult and $2 for a Powerade. The sun was beating down on us even at 5pm, and there was very little shade. Other than that, no complaints here. .. the Iowa State Fair! Yes, I have been to the Iowa State Fair before, but this was my first time going on east side night, dancing at The Depot, checking out the biggest sow, and having my cheerleaders perform on stage. I've heard east side night is the perfect time to people watch. Honestly, the people seemed the same as every other time I've been: some are obese, some are hicks, some are trashy, some are way too dolled up, and some are normal-looking.
The biggest sow was not much more interesting. Poor guy is pushing 3,000 pounds! I can't imagine he's naturally that big but maybe... Earlier in the day my cheerleaders from UDSGC in Urbandale showed off their stunting, tumbling, jumps, cheers and a dance. The crowd was pretty small consisting of mostly parents and siblings of other students at UDSGC. The girls did really great for only practicing for three weeks and weren't scared to be on a big ass stage. I think I was more nervous than they were. I had them running through the cheers and dance one last time 10 minutes before going on. Hopefully they stay that calm and collected as they grow up and performances turn into competitions. The Des Moines metro prides itself on having mile after mile of trails for walkers, runners, rollerbladers and cyclists to enjoy. Slowly but surely, I am taking advantages of those miles of pavement. Today Lucas and I drove a few miles to park at the Polk County administrative building near Douglas/Euclid and MLK on the Des Moines River. We jumped on the Neal Smith Trail which took us north along the east side of the river. In less than nine miles, we hit the southern most part of Saylorville Lake.
The path is extremely shady and flat, which is a nice change of pace compared to the hills that are all around my neighborhood. However, it flooded in the past (according to a co-worker) which caused big cracks in the pavement. I'm talking bumpy enough to stand up on the bike so your southern parts don't get banged around. The cracks would have been manageable had I not been riding Lucas' road bike for the first time. I was just trying to get use to the extra thin tires when we came upon almost a mile of these cracks. I do see myself riding this trail again and taking it further up along the lake to see what I can see. The whole point of riding Lucas' road bike was to see if it allowed me to go much faster than my hybrid. With the triathlon five weeks away, I need to step my training up. The perk of a road bike, in addition to the thinner tire creating less friction on the road, using clip in pedals (not the cage-style ones) allows your legs to not only just push down on the pedals but pull up on them as well - that means you can go faster. I don't own cycling shoes that clip in, so I just wore regular tennis shoes. The ride went well. I was able to push my speed up to 17 mph, which is extremely difficult for me on my hybrid. I do plan to use his bike for the race and make the investment in clip in shoes also. |