The cord is officially cut

I turned in my laptop and badge for my previous job. I am now officially a non-employee. It's both strange and exhilarating.

When I went to drop off the computer, I saw a few people I have worked with closely, and one of them quickly started talking work. Detailed ongoings of work. And there I was, in my jeans and t-shirt, clearly not focused on any sort of work talk, feeling elated on the inside that all of this was no longer my responsibility or concern. Still care about the overall mission of said company, but you can keep the day to day mishigas.

That said, I am now in pure vacation mode. My bag is packed, and in about 15 minutes I'm heading down to Boston to see a Red Sox game with a friend. I'll stay chez him overnight, and then hit the road for NYC in the morning. Very excited to get to the city, see P (who is there for the month), give up the car for a few, run in the park, and simply enjoy just being able to do whatever, whenever.

I'll come back for a couple of days, and then head to Chicago for 5 days. That's the longest contiguous time I''ll have ever spent there, and I do love that town. The only plan I have thus far is to meet up with a friend (and her mom) who is running the marathon and check out the expo. Looking forward to being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people and product.

Given the amount of vacation time I never used while working at the previous job, I have ample vacation time to cover all of this. With some to spare.

I can't believe how well this is all falling in to place. I should switch jobs more often.

semi-vegetative state

I've worked hard. I've been diligent and responsible. I've been a team player. And tonight, I think I am going to give myself a guilty gift that has absolutely zero value in the real world.

I am going to gorge on television.

I've been planning it out. It will involve creating a zone of food/drink/pillows/cats around me, putting on loose clothes, and parking myself in the corner of the couch. Perhaps I'll sit up, feet on an ottoman. Perhaps I'll give in fully and lay down, head turned sideways to soak in the passive entertainment. There may or may not be a blanket involved.

My Tivo has been dutifully recording programs, and I have hardly paid any attention to it's achievement. But tonight, oh tonight, that will change.

Last night I stayed up a little later than I should have, watching videos and playing Vortex on my new iPod. The new iPods really are pretty, and I am going to be gifting my old 30GB photo (which has worked perfectly to this day) to my mom. Ok, ok, her mere mention of possibly using an iPod instead of CDs to hold the music for her various folk dancing groups was all the push I needed to offer mine up and make the jump.

Video podcasts are now at my disposal. Very, very dangerous, as I can now watch telly in bed. On a small screen, but still. Or movies! Video Podcasts! I burned my eyes blowing through a whole set of "Flight of the Conchords" snippets last night. I gave in and purchased "Pootie Tang" (Wa Da Tah!) as my inaugural movie - it was either going to be that or "Zoolander." But I expect I'll figure out how to burn our DVDs to the iPod soon enough, so no need to repurchase.

At the moment I am on our sun porch, with three self-bathing cats, perfect weather, and no particular agenda. "Paid in Full (Seven Minutes of Heaven)" just started flowing into my ears. It's one of those songs (and collaborations, really) that, when I'm feeling sentimental and particularly audiophile-y, I classify under Highly Important Music. This is one of those times.

So far, this whole between jobs state is pretty sweet!

The bug is back

Back in March I mentioned a little bug that lives in the Nike+ sport thingy, which fixed itself once I hit a mileage milestone (500 miles). Or so I thought. This morning, after a run that certainly didn't put me into any new milestone territory, Paula Radcliffe was kind enough to let me know that she hoped I was feeling great, because I'd covered another 500km.

Perhaps the mile has gone the way of US dollar, and now kilometers are worth more.

I blame George Bush.

Around the world

That's the song that's stuck in my head. Daft Punk. It has exactly one line, repeated 144 times. Easy to learn the lyrics; hard to get them out of my head.

Here's a little insight into my brain: I quickly did the math and figured out that there are 144 lines. In my head, that instinctively translates to 12 squared. Which translates to 4 x 3. Four is my favorite number, and 3 is P's. Thus it is a good song.

Sometimes, I scare myself.

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, which means there are lots of stories lost. Lots of runs that won't be recorded here.

I'm in the middle of a job transition, which is part of the radio silence. At the stage where I am physically still in the job I've held for a few years, but mentally starting to fade. There are a few things I want to neatly tie together to ensure I leave on a good note, and it's been tough to even motivate for those small things... Ah, well. It's been a good ride, I'm leaving on very good terms, and I'm excited for the next chapter.

In between chapters, I'm taking a few weeks off. That I am also very much looking forward to. In that time, I'll be heading to Chicago for a few just to hang out. The day I depart is the day of the Chicago Marathon, which I didn't realize when I initially booked the ticket. I'm excited to mooch off of the vibe, and see some friends who will be running. Maybe sneak into the Expo... A girl can always use another pair of good running socks.

Aside from Chicago, I have no firm plans. Which is lovely. Maybe visit my mom, maybe go running at any time of day, maybe melt my brain in front of the television, finish a few books... Who cares. It will be fall, it will be beautiful, and I will have no homework for three blessed weeks. I've earned it. :)

On the running front, it's been a good end of summer. I reached out of my comfort zone recently and responded to an ad on craigslist for a running partner. I found the guy as I was getting ready to post something myself. It gets a little lonely running on your own all the time, and having someone there to keep you running when you want to stop is really useful. Plus some chatting makes the miles go by. I do like running on my own, but periodically seeing another runner in Manchester would be nice.

So I met up with the guy, who I'll call WestSide, on Monday at 6:30am. First meeting, particularly when I don't know someone from Adam and the main purpose is to run, had lots of awkward potential. Not to mention me being a little nervous as I still have it stuck in my head that most people run faster than me, even though I know I have never finished dead last in a race.

Off we went, on a route he led. We were on his side of town, which I've driven through but never walked through. It was quite pretty, I have to say. And much flatter than my part of town. What a pleasure to not have the lsat 1.5 miles be pure uphill. In the end, we went for around 5 miles at a chat pace, talking some and not talking some. He wasn't a serial killer. Just a normal guy who also wanted someone to run with. I think we'll be heading out again.

The only downside was that I forgot my Nike+ thingy, meaning the run didn't "count" for my online tracking. I'm past my initial addition to the thing, but really would have liked to have known how far the route WestSide selected took us. Damn.

This weekend is the annual Reach The Beach Relay here in NH. I considered pulling together a team of quirky runners to have at it, but had to stop when I realized the race started on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. That counted me out, sadly. Luckily, the Jewish calendar follows the moon, so it should not be a conflict next year. I've already started listing out potential team players in my head...

For this year, I'll simply volunteer on Saturday. No idea what I'll be doing, but it involves showing up in Exeter at 7:45 am and staying there all day. At the moment I hear they are forecasting rain. Should be soggy fun!