Today is Not That Day

Blogger comment fail

A couple months ago I stopped being able to post comments on Blogger posts using OpenID/Typepad credentials. Maybe there was an update to the Blogger platform, not sure, but it's been frustrating.

So tonight I happened to see a post from someone on Wordpress with the same problem, and one commenter had a good answer that I'll repost here. I think this is right... I can post comments to blogs that have enabled user name + URL. Most of this answer is techno-babble but if you follow, here ya go. Just in case you've seen a drop in comments, this might be the issue. 

It doesn’t matter what platform you use, the problem is with OpenID (in short, it doesn’t work). This means that in order for non-blogger people to comment on a blogger blog, the blog owner can either install disqus (or something similar) which is a cross platform login that allows commentators to keep their own IDs OR have a name+URL option that allows non-blogger commentators to comment (but without maintaining their cross-platform Identities, i.e. Gravatar etc will not work). Or they could just install Gravatar but Google seems to have spotty support for that too. There are massive discussions on online forums about this-commercial sites in particular seen their commenting go up 60% or more after installing cross platform commenting systems/ moving out of blogger. The problem seems to have existed forever and Google (they own Blogger) doesn’t seem to care. The only quick fix is letting the blog owner know either through comments or email so they can do something about it themselves..

Anyone on Daily Mile?

After losing all my data when BuckeyeOutdoors.com servers crashed, I thought I'd try Daily Mile. It looks like great fun, but I've only found a couple people I know on it. If you're on Daily Mile, leave a comment and I'll figure out how to connect to you!

ABC jumped the shark

I thought this would be fun to do before I opened my blog reader tonight and saw 5 (five!) blog posts titled ABC. So because I don't like doing something if everyone else is doing it, I'll take a cue from Jen Harrison and change up as many of the words as I can (or have time for). More fun that way.

A. Age: 42 in 2 days!! Somewhat bittersweet about this. As Jen H says, "I'm freakin' HOT at 40!!" (or 42). Which is way cool. But I'm sorta creeping a bit farther into 40s than I'd like :-)

B. Books: I read anything and everything. Spy novels, historical fiction, science, sci fi, sports, philosophy, you name it. Right now I'm reading Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance. I would bet that most people reading tri blogs would find this book totally fascinating.

C. Cats: Two. They're sisters. They're more like dogs... very friendly, greet me every day at the door, and love to play.

D. Diet confession: I'm addicted to lime-flavored Doritos. I think they're coated in crack; I usually can't stop until I polish off the entire bag.

E. Essential start to your day:  Coffee with vanilla-flavored soy creamer. Delish. Then I eat a bowl of granola with yogurt, raisins and milk (this morning topped with fresh strawberries, even better) while I read emails, blogs and Facebook.

F. Favorite beverage(s): Wine. Hey, I live in northern California and wine runs the local economy around here. I really enjoy exploring different varietals: Abarino, Verdicchio, Chenin Blanc. But I LOVE a beer with sushi or pizza. And margaritas on the rocks with salt on a warm day on a patio.

G. Geek out on (other than triathlon)... Personality tests. I love thinking about what makes us tick, what makes us different, how different brains are wired and why we meet people who we either instantly click with or get rubbed the wrong way. I'm I(E)NTJ (borderline introvert/extrovert).

H. Height: 5’8”

I. Interests other than triathlon: Hmm... I think I've already touched on them. Books, wine, food, friends.

J. Job: I started a consulting firm in sustainability and just landed 2 new clients! Totally excited. This year is going to be much better than last.

K. Kids: See C.

L. Live: San Francisco. I've been here for 5 years and totally love it... except when it's 55 and foggy in the middle of August. I moved here from Texas and I really miss warm nights on a patio.

M. Movies: Favorite movies are the Matrix (#1) and Inception. There's a theme here... what is the nature of reality? Totally fascinating subject for me.

N. Nationality: Mostly Danish and English, with some Scottish, Welsh and Irish thrown in for good flavor.

O. Overnight hospital stays: None!

P. Pet peeves: People who tell me what they think I want to hear, instead of what they really think. Drives me CRAZY.

Q. Quote from a movie: "What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can hear, what you can smell, taste and feel, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain." (Matrix)

R. Righty or Lefty: RIGHTY

S. Siblings: None, I'm an only child.

T. Travel: I once took what I fondly call my "ADD Sampler Platter Tour of Europe"... 5 countries in 11 days, 2 days in each country, night train between each. We thought night trains would be ideal... go to sleep and wake up the next day in a new place! Turned out to be a total nightmare. I don't recommend it. But it was fun to see different places (Amsterdam, Munich, Venice, Vienna, Prague) and pick where I'd want to go back (Venice, Prague).

U. Underwear:  Hello Kitty. Seriously, they were on sale at Target and I love them!

V. Vegetables you don’t like: I love vegetables. I don't like watermelon.

W. What makes you run late: Usually the bus system in SF. If I'm 5 seconds late for the bus, I'll be 15 minutes late to my destination. Very frustrating.

X. X-rays you’ve had: My big toe on my left foot doesn't bend. 15 years ago I played paddle ball in shallow water in Florida, stepped in a sharp rock and gouged out the inside of my toe. I got x-rays to make sure there weren't any bone shards before they stitched me up. Little did I realize that incident would create imbalances and potential for running injuries when I started my triathlon journey 15 years later.

Y. Yummy food you make: Baked salmon on pasta with a side of broccoli or chard, topped with toasted pine nuts and parmesan. Yum. Also I make great portobello mushroom fajitas.

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Monkeys! They're a hoot. 

Hangin' with retirees

Tomorrow I fly to the largest retirement community in America to hang out with mom for Christmas. Nearly 80,000 residents, 36 golf courses, classes on just about any topic under the sun, and Happy hour every day after 1:00 pm (and that means 2 for 1 drink specials for $5. Crazy.) It's actually pretty fun: sorta like Disney meets frat party for active retirees.  Expect some entertaining posts and pics from me of 70 to 90 year olds doing line dances in the square. Yes, they do live bands and dancing in the square every night of the year.

So now the question is, what will my workouts look like down there? Mom says there's a great pool, so the swim's on. Running's a no-no. I'm not sure if I can rent a bike. Which means I'll likely be hitting the gym for time on those upright pseudo spin bikes. And their gym is like a gym in a Holiday Inn... not much by way of equipment and no spin classes. I'll figure it out. Training doesn't officially start until Jan 2 so right now it's just a matter of regaining some lost fitness and getting accustomed to the schedule.

 

How many fruits and veggies can I eat before they rot?

That's my assignment after taking up GoSonja's Great Organic Basket Challenge. Because, see, I don't have anyone to cook for but moi. And check out all this lovely produce that must be consumed in the next couple days! I had been thinking that I don't consume enough produce, so this was a great excuse.

(bizarre technology alert... for some reason my pics are being imported upside down. For this, I think I get special points. It's certainly unique. After 15 minutes of trying to fix it, I'm giving up. Part of my "letting go of perfection" assignment.) 

Doesn't the pineapple add flair to the photo? It wasn't on the official Basket list, but Whole Foods was having a special on fair trade pineapple. I love to chop it up, store in the freezer, and then use frozen pineapple chunks in post-workout smoothies.

I'm finding it hard to write with a straight face with this upside-down photo distraction. No, I haven't had any wine tonight, although that might make it even more entertaining. ANYHOOO.... moving on.

As soon as I saw the lovely combo of avocado, tomato, lime and zucchini, I immediately thought: veggie fajitas. So I picked up some portobello mushrooms for the "meat" and prepared as follows:

• basted mushrooms with a blend of olive oil, worcestershire, soy sauce, white wine vinegar (just a splash), salt & pepper, then grilled in my nifty George Foreman grill
• sauteed 1/3rd onion thinly sliced and 1 zucchini (sliced and halved). I carmelize the onion first, then add the zucchini so the latter is still a bit snappy
• made some spicy black beans (heated black beans with one chopped roma tomato and chopped jalapeno pepper, mashing them up a bit)
• loaded it all into tortillas, squeezed 1/4 lime over both, then topped with salsa. Delicious! And very healthy; I use minimal oil.

Voila, my creation! (note this photo is sideways, NOT upside down. What is going on??)

  

Ok, now that I've eliminated one tomato, one zucchini, 1/2 avocado and 1/4 lime from this massive produce department that currently resides on my kitchen counter, I need to figure out what's next. I will haul out my juicer in the morning and try something with pomegranite. I've never had pomegranite and I'm hoping it doesn't make me all amorous... isn't it an aphrodisiac?  I need a boyfriend. Man-friend. Whatever you call someone you sleep with when you're over 40... ridiculous to call them boyfriends. ANYHOOO.... I digress yet again.

I should report on my shopping experience at Whole Foods in San Francisco. A couple challenges: no individual organic limes, so I bought conventional. No pinova apples, so I bought heirloom Arkansas black apples. And no pea sprouts, so I bought broccoli sprouts. Grand total: $45.85. Pretty much halfway between Sonja's and Megan's totals.

I'm looking forward to making something with the sweet potatoes and collard greens tomorrow. I suspect the flavors will complement each other (sweet potatoes go great with chard and kale, so why not collard greens?) I'll report back tomorrow with my creations.

Photo randomness or total goofball? Your pick.

Beth invited her readers to a fun "random phone camera blog post." I'd totally love to play along but I am one of those people who clicks "yes" when after each download my computer asks, "do you want to delete these photos from your camera?"So... zilch on my camera phone except for one pic I did keep of my cats staring at me while I'm trying to work. This totally cracked me up:

  

That said, in the spirit of playing along, I just received a ton of pics from one of my girlfriends who recently had a few gals over for a low-key Christmas party. These are my non-tri friends who think I'm a lunatic for doing triathlons but love me anyway, which is great.They're also a group who really likes wine (who doesn't, we're in northern California!) and we're also known to ham it up. The combo of wine + ham = photos like the ones below (more times than I'd care to admit.)

Two of my friends have 9-year old daughters who announced they were going to take pictures of us. Note that we've already blown through 3 bottles of wine and have started in on the egg nog:

 

Then the girls started giving us scenes to act out, starting with... the roller coaster!

Then... we won the lottery:

The girls are getting entertained by this point...

 

Yes, we're horrible role models. But then it was fish face!

 

and let's not forget rocker girls at a concert...

Zee plane! Zee plane!

 

This next one totally cracks me up... my friend Jen in the Santa hat did not get the memo that we're supposed to be gang members. I think the egg nog finally hit:

Ok. I'm embarrassed to admit that there's more I didn't post here. I think this kept us highly entertained for almost an hour. We're how old?? Yes, several of us are over 40. Clearly no one would ever guess.

So... tag. You're it. You have your choice of two themes: Beth's camera phone randomness or semi-embarrassing total goofball pictures. Your pick.

An early Christmas for me!

I'm so bad, shopping for myself during the holidays, but I just received my training essentials from Amazon.com today and I'm soooo excited.

My cats were excited too. Sorry girls, this is not for you. This particular box happened to house the new mat to go under my new trainer.

Why Kurt Kinetic decided to paint their trainer lime green is beyond me... it definitely doesn't go with my decor. At the moment the only place I have to put the trainer is in a corner of my living room, which will have to do for now. At least it's very quiet and smooth!

I also purchased the bike sensor to go with my Garmin, which takes an advanced degree to figure out how to install. Finally managed to figure it out (as well as why my Garmin wasn't tracking distance... turns out you have to turn off the GPS.)

And lastly, a replacement heart rate monitor. This was a very difficult and frustrating purchase to make, because I lost my heart rate monitor after 1 month of ownership IN MY OWN HOUSE. I have no idea how this happened; I remember taking it off in my bedroom (that's what she said) and never finding it again. All I know is that after forking out another $50 for a replacement, I'm very confident that the lost one will now make its way out of hiding.

So... I'm now ready to train!! Now I just need my hamstring and piraformis to agree to my plan. They are not getting any better and it's terribly frustrating. I decided to go for my weekly 4 mile jog which was ok... had planned for 5 miles, but at mile 2 my hip (a brand new pain) decided to make itself known. Argh. So I turned around. Still not too bad, though... 9:35 avg. I'm headed to my A.R.T. therapist tomorrow and have my fingers crossed for some magic.

"Story of Stuff" for triathlon

Story of Stuff just came out with a new "story" for electronics. If you're not aware of e-waste, this is a must watch. Very well done story of too much stuff ending up in landfills and poisoning people and the earth.

So I'm watching this and thinking, "they should do a Story of Stuff for triathlon." I just got into this sport and there's SO MUCH STUFF! Most of it I don't need, but I covet.

I just bought a Garmin 310XT with a soft strap heart rate monitor. It's awesome, but now I need to buy the quick release strap, bike mount and bike sensor.

GoSonja posted her dilemma of which Kinvara running shoes to buy/wear for IM AZ... I totally covet the pinky white ones, but I just bought new running shoes this year and don't need more. However, it's great motivation to run a LOT so I can buy new ones sooner.

I still need to buy a new wetsuit. And since I'm doing Kona (not wetsuit legal) I'm coveting the speedsuit (which I won't buy, but I want one).

And of course I need to buy my own aerobars (I'm borrowing a pair now) and ultimately I NEED a tri bike. I sound like a 10 year old. Of course I don't NEED a tri bike. But I want one. Someday.

So in the spirit of Story of Stuff, what do you do with your old gear? I recently bought a new bike helmet... what to do with the old one? They say that old helmets lose their ability to protect you, so I don't think I'd want to donate it to a kid's cycling program... but isn't an old helmet better than no helmet at all?

Good for Bree Wee for taking old shoes to give to the Marshalese this Christmas! If I had old shoes I'd send them.  I'll be sure to run out and buy a pair of Kinvaras so I can send her my relatively new Brooks.

condom advice

Just discovered Carole Sharpless' blog... really good writer. And funny. Loved this post on condom recommendations on drugstore.com.