IG had been wanting an Ipad forever. I have been browsing the Apple store for a few months debating back and forth on whether or not to get him one. Then I found a refurbished one, for about 47% cheaper than a brand new one. Sold!
Well, FedEx tried to deliver it yesterday and guess who got home and got the door tag before me? Yep. So he begged and pleaded and whined and I gave in and let him open it(after we went to pick it up.) Needless to say he was happy as a kid on Christmas. So happy, in fact, that he stayed up until 3 am playing on the darn thing. I gave up waiting for him at around 11 pm. So now, he's lying next to me sleeping, at not even 9 pm, to catch up on what he lost last night. Silly boys and their toys.
What's on your Christmas list?
*sidenote*
Happy 235th birthday to the United States Marine Corps. I hope my brothers and sisters in arms have a blast(safely) at their birthday balls.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Why is it
than when someone else is a huge grump ass, you become one too?
A couple weeks ago we signed up for a volleyball league sponsored by our gym. Good way to meet people, it's a sport we like, so on. Tonight was our first game. There's 7 of us, 1 awesome chick who's in it to have fun, 1 super tall Polish guy who's pretty good, 1 Hispanic chick who has never played before, 1 chick who has but didn't know she was our captain and may have broken her wrist first game, me and IG and the all star.
Now, I've played team sports. I used to play mostly softball and I've piddled around in the volleyball world but this guy reminded me why team sports aren't my favorite thing. All star thinks he is high and mighty, as we all get in a circle to warm up, he stand off to the side not speaking to anyone. Then once the game starts, he's a show off. He's all over the court, not subbing out like he's supposed to. Every time he walked over to stand next to me he got a complete side eye from me. Now I'm no means an amazing player but I know the basics and can hold my own, so him being all up in my AO(area of operations) just irritated the life out of me. IG noticed it and thinks all star will quit because he thinks we're beneath him. I hope he's right, otherwise, we may duke it out.
On another note, I'm taking a break from working out. I think I may have pinched a nerve in my back and I have my POWER test next weekend. So I'm going to rest up. The next few weeks are going to be busy; drill, I have a couple classes for my job, IG is in training for some new computer system. So, yeah...I'll be around. :)
A couple weeks ago we signed up for a volleyball league sponsored by our gym. Good way to meet people, it's a sport we like, so on. Tonight was our first game. There's 7 of us, 1 awesome chick who's in it to have fun, 1 super tall Polish guy who's pretty good, 1 Hispanic chick who has never played before, 1 chick who has but didn't know she was our captain and may have broken her wrist first game, me and IG and the all star.
Now, I've played team sports. I used to play mostly softball and I've piddled around in the volleyball world but this guy reminded me why team sports aren't my favorite thing. All star thinks he is high and mighty, as we all get in a circle to warm up, he stand off to the side not speaking to anyone. Then once the game starts, he's a show off. He's all over the court, not subbing out like he's supposed to. Every time he walked over to stand next to me he got a complete side eye from me. Now I'm no means an amazing player but I know the basics and can hold my own, so him being all up in my AO(area of operations) just irritated the life out of me. IG noticed it and thinks all star will quit because he thinks we're beneath him. I hope he's right, otherwise, we may duke it out.
On another note, I'm taking a break from working out. I think I may have pinched a nerve in my back and I have my POWER test next weekend. So I'm going to rest up. The next few weeks are going to be busy; drill, I have a couple classes for my job, IG is in training for some new computer system. So, yeah...I'll be around. :)
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Umm....I'm running a half marathon
13.1 miles. Holy cow right? I registered for the Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon on August 21, 2011. Plenty of time.....right? I'm already looking for a couple 5 and 10K races to run to prepare myself. I'm pretty excited.
Why this race? I picked the Rock 'n' Roll half because it benefits the American Cancer Society. My grandda has kidney cancer, a dear friend's father has colon cancer, another friend lost her mother to breast cancer....my point? I wanted to benefit ALL types of cancer research. Don't get me wrong, Susan G. Komen does great things for breast cancer but I couldn't pick just one to dedicate to. So why not all of them? If you are interested in donating to my cause, you can find my page here. My goal is to raise $1,000 between now and August. Every penny helps!
So I'm having to shuffle around my workout schedule again. Nothing huge but I tried a pilates class for the first time last week and LOVED it. So instead of running MWF and lifting TTHS, I'm flip flopping. I'm going to start sort of incorporating Hal Higdon's half marathon training.
Monday - swim/bike/easy run and NROLFW
Tues - Distance run
Wed - Pilates and swim/bike/easy run
Thurs - Distance run or intervals
Fri - swim/bike/easy run and NROLFW
Sat - distance run
Saturday, November 6, 2010
This is going to be long
HI! I'm alive! I'm so not good at this blogging thing. So, let's catch up shall we?
Work is amazing. I LOVE, absolutely LOVE my job. I mainly do case work for SLANT(state-line anti narcotics team) but also help them with busts. When we do a bust I help them go through all the evidence, look for any ties to other cases/suspects we have and so on. Analyst work. The more I see what they do and the more I work with these guys, the MORE I want to be a cop. I'm trying but with one department laying off 21-35 cops next month and the state not looking to hire until next year, it's kinda tough. So I'm working on improving my scores for testing and being as prepared as I can be. I'm also abusing this job and taking all the training, classes, experience they'll give me. I take my POWER(Police Officer Wellness Evaluation Report) next month which is 1.5 mi run(easy peasy) 1 bench press, 31 sit ups and a sit 'n' reach. Once I finish that I will test with a PD in December and hopefully again in Jan. Someday....
Today I ran another 5K. I got a personal record(PR) of 34:47. Which surprised me because it was COLD! I'm talking probably freezing or less, but oh well. I "ran for the athletes" with the Aurora, IL police department. We raised $9,000 for the 2011 IL Special Olympics. The best part was when the last runner crossed the finish, he was a teenage boy with special needs. I had passed him and his mom as she helped him with his inhaler and he gave me a high five. I told him to keep going. 30 minutes or so later, he came around the bend for the last 1/4 of a mile, the police department and fire department ran around and formed a group around him and he started running, they encouraged him the whole way. Every person who was there crowded the finish line; clapping, cheering, whistling and he sprinted. He crossed the finish and threw his hands up in the air in victory. It was amazing. And some race photos.
Lastly, my spaghetti recipe by request. We like spicy but I wanted to make sure it tasted "italian" so here's the list of what I used.
Jar of generic meat sauce
1 lb of ground beef(browned)
1 bag of pepperonis(chopped)
Now, spices are approximate, I recommend using them to taste.
1 Tbsp basil
1 tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp Chili powder
1/2 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic
1/2 white onion(minced)
1/4 C of low fat cream cheese to make it creamy(Thanks Maria for the tip!)
I browned the ground beef then threw everything in the crockpot, put it on low for 4 hours then warm until dinner. It was amazing and it got the husbands seal of approval(which is huge b/c he has no taste buds/sense of smell).
Now I'm off to nap then out with friends later. Have a great weekend!
Work is amazing. I LOVE, absolutely LOVE my job. I mainly do case work for SLANT(state-line anti narcotics team) but also help them with busts. When we do a bust I help them go through all the evidence, look for any ties to other cases/suspects we have and so on. Analyst work. The more I see what they do and the more I work with these guys, the MORE I want to be a cop. I'm trying but with one department laying off 21-35 cops next month and the state not looking to hire until next year, it's kinda tough. So I'm working on improving my scores for testing and being as prepared as I can be. I'm also abusing this job and taking all the training, classes, experience they'll give me. I take my POWER(Police Officer Wellness Evaluation Report) next month which is 1.5 mi run(easy peasy) 1 bench press, 31 sit ups and a sit 'n' reach. Once I finish that I will test with a PD in December and hopefully again in Jan. Someday....
Today I ran another 5K. I got a personal record(PR) of 34:47. Which surprised me because it was COLD! I'm talking probably freezing or less, but oh well. I "ran for the athletes" with the Aurora, IL police department. We raised $9,000 for the 2011 IL Special Olympics. The best part was when the last runner crossed the finish, he was a teenage boy with special needs. I had passed him and his mom as she helped him with his inhaler and he gave me a high five. I told him to keep going. 30 minutes or so later, he came around the bend for the last 1/4 of a mile, the police department and fire department ran around and formed a group around him and he started running, they encouraged him the whole way. Every person who was there crowded the finish line; clapping, cheering, whistling and he sprinted. He crossed the finish and threw his hands up in the air in victory. It was amazing. And some race photos.
Lastly, my spaghetti recipe by request. We like spicy but I wanted to make sure it tasted "italian" so here's the list of what I used.
Jar of generic meat sauce
1 lb of ground beef(browned)
1 bag of pepperonis(chopped)
Now, spices are approximate, I recommend using them to taste.
1 Tbsp basil
1 tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp Chili powder
1/2 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic
1/2 white onion(minced)
1/4 C of low fat cream cheese to make it creamy(Thanks Maria for the tip!)
I browned the ground beef then threw everything in the crockpot, put it on low for 4 hours then warm until dinner. It was amazing and it got the husbands seal of approval(which is huge b/c he has no taste buds/sense of smell).
Now I'm off to nap then out with friends later. Have a great weekend!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
One more day
Before I'm back to the grind. Two weddings and a week of training accomplished. I'm off tomorrow for Columbus day then finally start my new job on Tues. Super excited. I swear it's like this day would never come. It kept getting pushed further and further back.
Can someone please tell me why it's 80+ degrees in Chicagoland in OCTOBER? I've been trick-or-treating in my damn snow suit before and today I wore shorts and flip flops. Really? We have a saying in IL "If you don't like the weather today, stick around for tomorrow, it will be completely different."
Can someone please tell me why it's 80+ degrees in Chicagoland in OCTOBER? I've been trick-or-treating in my damn snow suit before and today I wore shorts and flip flops. Really? We have a saying in IL "If you don't like the weather today, stick around for tomorrow, it will be completely different."
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Grumble Grumble
This post is military related and I will try not to speak in all acronyms.
Basically, I applied for a class that I will need to eventually get promoted. I say eventually because I don't need it for my next rank, but the one after. So I was hoping to get ahead of the game. It's a 3 phase course. Phase 1 is online and 2&3 are at a school house.
I put in for phase 1 in August because it was just the next available class I found that was more than 30 days out. Then a few weeks ago, I found a phase 2&3 that dates worked for me in the spring. 2 started just a few days after I finished phase 1 and I would be done in less time since it's a reserve course. Sweet. Put in my apps for 2&3.
They ALL got denied. Why? Because Monday, they finally got around to my application and said I was within 30 days of the start date of phase 1 and the course was locked out. Since that was denied, it automatically denied me phase 2&3 since obviously you need 1 first. If they had freaking looked at my application when I put it in over a month and a half ago, we wouldn't have this problem.
I'm not going to blame my unit because I know who did the application, when they did it, and that it didn't sit at their level. I know who's level it sat at and I'm going to chat with my old boss to let him know who is sitting around. Chances are, I'm not the only one this has happened to.
Other than that, training is going well. I'm learning all the databases and how procedures work. Now if I could just get to my office and set up and learn my area and the who's who of my zone, I'd be set. Can't wait to get started, we have a HUGE, and I mean HUGE case we're working and I can't wait to get my hands on it and start digging around. Finally, a job I think I will enjoy.
Basically, I applied for a class that I will need to eventually get promoted. I say eventually because I don't need it for my next rank, but the one after. So I was hoping to get ahead of the game. It's a 3 phase course. Phase 1 is online and 2&3 are at a school house.
I put in for phase 1 in August because it was just the next available class I found that was more than 30 days out. Then a few weeks ago, I found a phase 2&3 that dates worked for me in the spring. 2 started just a few days after I finished phase 1 and I would be done in less time since it's a reserve course. Sweet. Put in my apps for 2&3.
They ALL got denied. Why? Because Monday, they finally got around to my application and said I was within 30 days of the start date of phase 1 and the course was locked out. Since that was denied, it automatically denied me phase 2&3 since obviously you need 1 first. If they had freaking looked at my application when I put it in over a month and a half ago, we wouldn't have this problem.
I'm not going to blame my unit because I know who did the application, when they did it, and that it didn't sit at their level. I know who's level it sat at and I'm going to chat with my old boss to let him know who is sitting around. Chances are, I'm not the only one this has happened to.
Other than that, training is going well. I'm learning all the databases and how procedures work. Now if I could just get to my office and set up and learn my area and the who's who of my zone, I'd be set. Can't wait to get started, we have a HUGE, and I mean HUGE case we're working and I can't wait to get my hands on it and start digging around. Finally, a job I think I will enjoy.
Monday, October 4, 2010
It has begun
Today was my first day with STIC(Statewide Terrorism Intelligence Collection) They're a great set of people and although I'm dealing more with drugs than terrorism, they're great to learn from since the two are often related. There's always the fun in briefings and death by powerpoint. I'm super excited to get my hands on the databases tomorrow and start actually playing around and learning.
This weekend was a blast. My dear friend K was married. Her wedding was beautiful and although I ended up being an unofficial wedding coordinator, things went off without a hitch and everyone had a wonderful time. It was great to reconnect with a lot of military friends from deployment and catch up on the who's what's when's and where's. Man I miss those guys. Although it took me two days to recover from the festivities, I'm back up and running.
On another positive note, my bonus was approved and my re-enlistment/ extension packet was approved. So, I'm in until 2014 and hopefully my bonus will come around soon. The husband is working on finding me a little commuter car to beat up and tack miles on. I will drive my Jeep on snowy/icky days since it's 4x4 but we want a something a bit more gas efficient for the other days. All in all, busy few weeks around our house. And another wedding this weekend.
My oen and only aunt is getting married. I'll be honest(Sorry M!) I never thought I'd see the day. She's just such a strong, independent woman that I wasn't sure she'd ever settle down. I'm really excited and happy for her and her man. I can't wait to watch them be married this weekend. :)
This weekend was a blast. My dear friend K was married. Her wedding was beautiful and although I ended up being an unofficial wedding coordinator, things went off without a hitch and everyone had a wonderful time. It was great to reconnect with a lot of military friends from deployment and catch up on the who's what's when's and where's. Man I miss those guys. Although it took me two days to recover from the festivities, I'm back up and running.
On another positive note, my bonus was approved and my re-enlistment/ extension packet was approved. So, I'm in until 2014 and hopefully my bonus will come around soon. The husband is working on finding me a little commuter car to beat up and tack miles on. I will drive my Jeep on snowy/icky days since it's 4x4 but we want a something a bit more gas efficient for the other days. All in all, busy few weeks around our house. And another wedding this weekend.
My oen and only aunt is getting married. I'll be honest(Sorry M!) I never thought I'd see the day. She's just such a strong, independent woman that I wasn't sure she'd ever settle down. I'm really excited and happy for her and her man. I can't wait to watch them be married this weekend. :)
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