Getting Lost

As great as Gmaps is, it does have one siginificant drawback: it doesn't know everything.

For example, it doesn't know that some streets have different names depending on where you are. So when you're walking around Lake Calhoun and are looking for Lake Harriet Parkway so you can hop over to that lake and complete the 7-mile loop you carefully planned out for yourself, you end up missing it completely. Because the street is not called Lake Harriet Parkway at that point. It's called William Berry Parkway. Naturally. So instead, you end up walking around Lake of the Isles, because fortunately you've found and used the secret canal under the bridge connecting those two lakes before (not labelled on gmaps, incidentally).

It also doesn't know whether a lake is completely walk-around-able. (There's gotta be a better word for that, but it's eluding me). So, even though I had a nagging feeling that there's a reason I never ran all the way around Cedar Lake back when I was running, I still set out in that direction. I walked around part of it, and then the walking path just stopped. I'm pretty sure that what I ended up on was the Cedar Lake Bike Trail. Oops.

I decided that the sensible thing to do, since I had no way to track the miles I'd walked, would be to walk out about an hour and then turn around and follow the same path home. (A 3mph pace - fairly conservative for me since I'm generally a fast walker - would give me 6 miles roundtrip).

It was a genius plan, and as I began walking back, I congratulated myself smugly until I noticed a house I hadn't seen on the way out.

'Huh. That's odd,' I thought.
'Must've zoned out,' I concluded.

Till I saw a street I was sure I hadn't crossed before. I stopped, scratched my head, shrugged, and decided to turn.

Even now, looking at a map, I'm not sure how I ended up back at the Lake of the Isles. I wandered through neighborhoods, counting on my very vague inner compass to tell me which way to turn. I sometimes went down streets that curved back in on themselves, but I'm pretty sure I never went in the "wrong" direction. (Hey, that's a feat for me). I don't know how far out of my way I went, but at least I got my 6 miles in!

Aside: The weather people had been promising rain for that day, and it was so muggy out that I wished it would. I wore a baseball hat, and the hat/humidity combo did lovely things for my hair.

See?

Baklava Sale

For those of you who don't know, I'm Egyptian (by blood; American-Egyptian by nationality), and my mom makes the best baklava you'll ever taste. Yes, baklava is originally a Greek dessert, but Egyptians have adapted it and made it their own, and my mom's is simply amazing.

Last weekend, I finally made the time to sit down and learn the family secret. We even got my brother to help! It was a lot of fun, and though I know what I need to do differently next time, it turned out pretty well for my first try!

The next day I took the two batches of baklava to work and placed plates strategically around the office area, and a full pan in the lunchroom. I posted signs and envelopes or boxes with each batch, explaining that there was a suggested donation and that all the money was going towards my fund-raising efforts for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. It was interesting to see which locations yielded the best sales, and when it wasn't all gone by ~4pm, I adjusted accordingly the following day.

At the end of the second day, there were only a few pieces left, and I collected about $100, not including those who chose to go online to donate!!

Thanks to everyone who donated and I'm glad you liked the baklava! Next time it'll probably be free as usual ;)

Hard at work in the kitchen


Sultan joins me :)


The finished product...yum!


In the lunchroom


A closer look at the sign

Garage Sale Success!

Yesterday I held my first fund-raising event for the 3-Day: a garage sale! Actually, there are a few typos in that sentence; I/me really turned out to be we/our, for all the help I got from Jake.

The day got off to a rough start when I started it at 4 AM, about two hours earlier than I’d intended on waking up. After a coffee stop (at which I declined a drink, for some reason denying myself the caffeine I sorely needed) and a long, construction-prompted detour, we arrived at the Andersons’ and began to set up shop.

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I’m normally a very outgoing, friendly, people-person, but you wouldn’t have known it for that first hour or two. As we were still setting up, people started trickling over, asking such foolish questions as, “how much for that item?” or, “how’s it going?” My exhausted brain couldn’t seem to put any energy into being amicable when it was channeling all it had into putting things on tables, which suddenly seemed like a task worthy of a team of rocket scientists. Poor Jake had the misfortune to (rightfully) suggest lowering the prices during that first hour or so, and got a sullen glare from me for his trouble.

It was obvious that of the two of us, he was much more fit for company, so he started doling out the friendly greetings and smiles while I ran around getting things set out, putting up my signs, and finishing up pricing. Eventually I sat down, drank the orange juice Jake bought me, and let the sugar work its magic.

We were out there pretty much all day, and (once I de-zombie-ified) had a fantastic time! Even after I perked up and began having normal interactions with people, Jake remained the go-to guy all day. The cliché might just be true in this case: I couldn’t have done it without him! (Or at least done it as well).

Our efforts paid off; we raised about $200 yesterday! This morning we took the books/media that didn’t sell to Half-Priced books and garnered in another $20 – so all in all, this event raised 10% of the minimum goal :)

I have to say, I was a little surprised that more people weren’t interested in the fact that the money was going to a great cause (so Matt, Ryan, and Mike: you were right). Several people asked about the walk, but only a few offered more money because it was going towards breast cancer research. However, Jake tells me that when I was off getting us lunch, a man came by with his daughter and said that he was so glad to see that I was walking the 3-Day and fund-raising for it; evidently his wife had passed away from breast cancer.

I want to extend thanks to:
Natalie and Jordan for the use of their property, both to sell and on which to host the garage sale;
My mom and Dennis, for the loan of their truck and card tables;
Marie and my coworkers for being so great about donating items for me to sell;
And of course, my amazing boyfriend Jake for taking as much ownership of the event as he did – his help was immeasurable and he was great company besides!

Here are some pictures...

The signs I made. The rectangular black bars turned into arrows once we - no, Jake - figured out where to put them. (Oh yeah, another thanks to Jake for rigging up a creative sign-holder doohicky)

A closer look at the explanation


The sales team


Jake valiantly protects the books when it starts to sprinkle


Natalie on deck!


We're giants! With flowers.


PS - Thanks to those who voted on how to price things. We ended up pricing some stuff, and left some wiggle room for ourselves on certain items so we could name a price based on how interested they seemed. It seemed to work well!

Butt Cheek

Things I'd rather not see on my walks:
Butt cheek. I don't care if you're male or female, I shouldn't have to be subjected to the sight of your buttocks while you are exercising in public. Whatever garment you choose to put on for your afternoon walk, run, or roller-blade, it should at the very least cover the crease where thigh turns to butt. (I left out bikers because not once have I seen someone be so insensible). The latest butt-viewing incident involved a male runner wearing shorts from the 80's with the really high slits up the side. Down went the leg and up flew the shorts, displaying ample cheek at regular intervals.
Nipple Caressing. I'm happy that you have a girlfriend with whom to enjoy a gorgeous afternoon at the lake. I don't mind that, it being one of the first warm days we've had this spring, you have no shirt on. It doesn't bother me that you're more or less spooning in the grass - whatever floats your boat. But does she really have to be rubbing your man-boob? Right there for everyone to see?

Things I like to see on my walks:
Most other things. I'm a huge people-watcher. I find people interesting. I like hearing snippets of conversation, I like catching the odd funny look on someone's face and guessing at their thoughts based on nothing concrete. I find it entertaining.
Sunshine. MAN did that feel nice yesterday!
Families. I really like seeing families out spending time together. Especially active time. It warms the cockles of my heart :)

Things I find amusing on walks:
Big dudes with the tiny dogs. I don't mean dogs the size of a chihuahua or terrier, I mean teeny, tiny, barely-bigger-than-a-large-rat dog. The type of dog it's become popular for girls to carry around in a small purse. They're cute, I guess, which is probably why women choose to get them, but would a man really pick a dog he could accidentally crush with a book because they're a cute wittle thing? I think they might have them to serve as chick magnets - and you know something? I've seen it work.

PS - Yesterday I picked up my parents' bigass pickup truck with the long card tables for the garage sale. Thanks to the random stranger who stopped to help direct me backing it out of my parking spot!

Walking Routes

Back when I was training for a 5K a couple of years ago, someone turned me onto a great site: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/. This site will let you plot out a walking route pretty much anywhere. This has been unbelievably handy for when I'd rather roam my neighborhood instead of walking around a lake, or for when I'm walking in an unfamiliar area. It's also been a great way to explore new streets, since I tend to get stuck in a route-rut once I've found one that I like.

Thought I'd share!

Aside: I really need to get my butt (well, feet) to a shoe store...the ones I have are starting to protest.

First Fundraising Event...

I have my first fundraising event coming up in less than two weeks here! I'll be having a garage sale...in Lauderdale. With the belongings of my good friends Natalie and Jordan.

Let me explain.

Natalie and Jordan are moving away, which is sad for me, good for them, and an entirely separate story. Because there's so much going on at the end of May, they weren't planning on having a garage sale, even though they had stuff they wanted to get rid of.

Well, I was telling Natalie about some of the fundraising stuff the speaker at my informational meeting had talked about, dismissing the garage sale since I live in an apartment, when she said that I could have one at her place. (I don't think the excitement that shone on my face left room for the possibility that she was joking, so hopefully she wasn't!)

Lauderdale is having a city-wide garage sale on Saturday May 17th, and Natalie and Jordan are super-nice enough to let me come over and sell their stuff and put all the money towards my 3-Day.

I have a ton to do to prepare, but I'm pretty excited! Jake and I both have some stuff at that was slated for Goodwill that we'll bring (yes, I've coerced him into helping me that day), and I've put up a sign at work and have had coworkers bringing in stuff to contribute to the garage sale.

I've scoped out sales at Supertarget, bummed a visit to Costco, and bought bottled water, pop, and candy to sell.

I still need to figure out how to price things. I haven't been to a garage sale since I was a kid. The speaker at the informational meeting didn't price anything at hers, but a quick poll amongst my friends and coworkers seems to suggest that I should. Then should I over-price them in anticipation of people haggling? Will people still haggle knowing the money's going towards a good cause? And what price range am I working with here? I don't know the unwritten garage sale "rules!"

Feel free to dispense advice. Ready, go.

Weekend Walks

Weekends are when the long walks are going to take place, for obvious reasons. As of last Friday, they were predicting rain, if not snow, for Saturday, and partly cloudy conditions for Sunday. I'm happy to report that they were wrong - both days were absolutely gorgeous!

Jake and I took a nice four-mile walk on a mostly sunny (if a little windy) Saturday afternoon. [Aside: I'm really happy that he's interested in joining me on my reasonably-lengthed walks, and maybe even a long one or two!].

And today, Natalie and I participated in the Walk MS event. We walked 6.5 miles on a beautiful day in Minnehaha Park to raise money for a cure. This wasn't exactly the distance I was slated for today, but who cares! It was so great to see so many people out walking for the same, great goal, and I can only imagine what it will be like to walk 3 times that distance, 3 days in a row. (Gulp).

Here's an action shot of us approaching the finish line!

Thanks to everyone who donated, and to our fan club who came out to support us:


What a great day!!

Rack Attack!!

That's our new team name :D

Thanks to Steph's coworker for coming up with it, and to everyone else who brought us such great contenders as, "Saving Second Base," "Breasts for Success, "The Breast Quest," and many more!

Last night I had a dream about "rack attack" so it must be meant to be!

Check out our team page: http://08.the3day.org/goto/rackattack