SIGG bottles are on sale on Active Gear Up
They are so nice for the environment and come in so many shapes and sizes and adorable designs! At over 50% off it’s a damn good deal!
Monthly Archives: March 2013
$20 off $100 running shoes on Amazon!
Amazon has a $20 off $100 running shoes sale going on right now.
The sale is good for both men’s and women’s shoes and they have loads of brands and styles to choose from. The promo code to remember when you’re checking out is RUNSHOES. Enjoy!
P.S. Yes I still have a job.
P.P.S. No I won’t have it for much longer if I continue to send the day shopping, watching YouTube videos and blogging.
Filed under Trotting
Antibiotics and the meat we eat
My advisor sent me this article today about Antibiotics and the meat we eat in the New York Times.
This topic is the public health issue that has motivated the work I’ve done in the second half of my PhD so in my humble opinion it’s a very important issue world wide. Please take a look!
What are your opinions on antibiotic use in agriculture?
What about the use of other supplements (steroids, hormones, etc…)?
Google hangout with Kara Goucher
Unfortunately I missed out on this live, but that’s what we have YouTube for!
Check out the Google hangout with Kara Goucher through Runner’s World magazine. She talks about Boston training, running post-pregnancy, running in general and life in general.
Filed under Trotting
Spring in your step!
So Dr. Trot has been quite bad and replaced her 30 miles/week with 30 Makers Mark being sick, thesis and paper writing, wedding planning with Anna and planning my impending move to the shining state of NJ. Now it isn’t that there is anything so wrong with most of these (being sick sucks and NJ is…well…it’s NJ…) but the lack of trotting is very not good! The good news is that I’m feeling much better, the paper is done for now and the thesis is moving forward (however crappy it may be). Wedding stuff is under control, I’ve decided to put my Princeton housing search on the back burner and this tundra that I’ve elected to live in for the last 30 yrs is finally warming up! Sooooooo prepare yourself for the return of some much missed by no one but me blogs on my dysfunctional relationship with Sir Trot.
To start things off properly, there is going to be a fun 5k and maybe also a kids fun run on April 13th in St. Michael, MN. One of the organizers of this event is my saint fantastic chiropractor Dr. Jenny. If you’re in the MSP are round up some friends and come out to join us. It should be a pretty course with fun company. It only $10 to enter or $20 for your whole family!
Filed under Trotting
Invitations!
I got a little package yesterday filled with the 100 invitations for sister Anna’s bridal shower! I was pleasantly surprised with the way they turned out. (Not that I thought I did a particularly shitty job or anything, but I feel things can look one way online and then very different in real life so you don’t really know what you’re getting until you get it.) Anyway, they look great, way to go Vistaprint!
Now it’s just a matter of addressing all of them and mailing them out. 
Filed under General
Hotel Hibiscus – Moshi Tanzania
Hotel Hibiscus on Trip Adviser
Our stay at the Hotel Hibiscus was awesome.
Accommodations
Our room at the Hibiscus was clean, spacious and totally charming. The beds were comfortable and had nice mosquito nets conveniently suspended on wire tracks from the ceiling. We had a private bathroom that was very clean with a western toilet and a shower with warm water!! (Note: There was one small issue with the shower here. The hot and cold water nobs were reversed!! We didn’t notice this until well into our stay unfortunately. Once we figured this out though, the showers were fantastic.)
The common areas were welcoming and clean. There was a comfy front porch that was great for read on during the day and a fire ring out back that looked like a lovely area for night time activities. (The evening temperatures of +80 F and previous engagements prevented us from checking this out during our stay.) Inside there was a living room with plenty of seating, a little library with books to share and a sizable community dining area.
A really delicious breakfast spread was served each morning in the indoor common area. Options included, coffee and tea, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt and toast with jam and peanut butter. It was a great way to start the day, it was also a great way to meet and get to know other guests staying at the Hibiscus.
Management and staff
The owner, Rebecca, and the staff Rosie could not have been better! They were sooooooo welcoming and friendly and helpful. You could really not ask for better hosts! Rebecca even drove me to the packet pick up site for the marathon when she found out I had no idea where I was going. They were absolutely fantastic.
Location
The Hibiscus is located just north of the main part of Moshi. It is a quick (15 min) walk to the town center and the dala and bus stands or a 5 min (3000 $TSH) cab ride if you have lots of luggage. It is also just a quick (10 min) walk to the start of the (2011, 2012 and 2013) Mt. Kilimanjaro Marathon! This was a very luck coincidence for us as we just selected The Hibiscus based on its reviews and adorable pictures on Trip Adviser (which it totally lived up to). SCORE! Unfortunately, it is also about 1 American block away from Zumbaland – which is rather loud all day and late into the night. This would probably be my one and only complaint.
Japanese weekend!
It’s weekend was full of non-thesis writing and non-running fun activities!
Saturday afternoon was spent hanging out with my sister Caeli who is back from Italy for the next 2 weeks 🙂 Then, I spent Saturday night pretending to be a little social butterfly. First, we had our bi-annual Kaznessis group gathering. We are quite the rambunctious bunch…3 parties in 6 years. Whooooo! Watch out! After that, we had Corrie’s 30th birthday to celebrate for the rest of the night. Ian and Corrie went to Costal Seafood in St Paul and bought them out of a variety of yummy sushi fish. I have to admit, I was rathe skeptical at first, but it was a total (diarrhea free) success! They supplied the fish, we brought sushi-fiable ingredients and we went to town making super tasty rolls. I totally recommend doing this if you want to do something a little different for once. Sharpen your knives and clean off your counters!!
Now on Sunday morning, my sushi-filled belly and I headed off bright and early for origami flower folding in Willmar, MN. My sister Anna, her fiancé Cameron and our mama (Anna’s and my mama…Cameron has a different mama…we are in Minnesota boys and girls, not Alabama…) folded flowers for 5 hours. That’s right, FIVE HOURS. But we got them done! What are “them”? Well, amongst other things, Anna and Cameron are doing something quite cool for all of the flowers that they are having in their wedding. Rather than having real flowers, they are having all origami flowers! All of our bouquets, the boutineers and decorations on tables. Now I find it more than a bit ironic that my friend Maroof is actually the one who came up with this brilliant idea (I’m being uncharactistically sincere here, I do think it is a brilliant idea) yet somehow he found himself in an unfortunate circumstance that kept him trapped back at work on Sunday rather than in Willmar folding flowers. Hmmmmm…. We did it though! The four of us made it through. And the very pretty fruits of our labor made it worth it for sure…
(Note: Aforementioned “other cool things” include wearing chucks instead of formal shoes and wearing a birdcage instead of a veil.)
Filed under General
African flu :-(
Man! I came down with a nasty (I blame) African flu last weekend and it knocked me out this week! Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were spent in bed. Much quality bonding time was had with these three best friends:
Drugs, juice and a heating pad.
By Thursday I was totally on the road to recovery and today I’m almost feeling normal again, but damn! It has been a long time since I’ve had the flu and now I remember why. It is really not on my Top 10 list of fun activities at all!
What do you do to nurse yourself back together when you’re sick?
Do you take anything?
Do you have a favorite juice or food that helps?
Filed under General
Fixed!!
My beautiful refrigerator is back in business!
When I got home last night the fridge was cool and running normally. Apparently Landlord Dave came over this weekend and observed the same thing–
I don’t know what I’d do if we had to replace this thing with some big new white eyesore!
In related news, the Beetle is back in business! When my friend Samia (and awesome apartment hallway mate) came home last night with her awesome boyfriend Alex, the three of us pilgrimaged (is that a word?) downstairs and went to work. It really probably only took us about a half an hour to get the little blue delinquent going, but when your cold and tired and it’s dark out, it becomes a very interesting 30 min. Here are the things we learned last night–
- Having your car sit in one place, without moving, for over a month in the MN winter causes said car to freeze solid to the ground. This subsequently prevents three rather strong people from being able to roll it into a position that is convenient for reaching it with jumper cables.
- VW enjoys challenging its customers to use the smallest of metal pieces as a ground.
- Connecting 2 batteries that are 15.5 ft apart does not work with 15 ft cables.
- Driving the healthy vehicle down onto the neighbors driveway and then stringing the cables up over the wall to the awkwardly parked sick vehicle looks quite insane, but works like a charm!!
I really wish I had at least one picture of this ordeal to share, but sadly that was not at the top of the priority list last night.
Thanks so much Sami and Alex! May your codes run smoothly and your data show exactly what you’re hoping to see today!
Filed under General
DrTrot 