the tale of the shrew and the suitcase

I have begun "the purge" on my apartment. I am sick of all the clutter and since I hope to move in a couple of months, the less stuff I have, the better. I am getting rid of crap that I don't need or use.

Yesterday, I recycled almost $15 worth of cans. Soda cans mostly. I can't help it. I have an addiction.

One thing that I cannot bring myself to get rid of are books. I have a lot of books - some here, some at my parents. I have more books than can fit on my bookshelf. In order to fight my losing battle with available shelf space, I have asked my parents Santa for a Kindle for Christmas. We shall see what happens..


this  little guy got recaptured so many times,
we named him Curly!





I have also asked my parents Santa for a suitcase and a ridiculous pair of Zoot recovery compression tights.

Why a suitcase? Shouldn't an almost-27 year old girl own a suitcase?

Well, I USED to have a nice suitcase. Then, a few summers ago, my then-graduate advisor told me he wanted me to take a week-long course in the Adirondacks called "Ecology of Adirondack Mammals." So I packed necessary stuff - hiking boots, raincoat, outdoors clothes, running clothes and left for a week in the mountains. During this week, we spent a lot of time in the field, setting and checking Sherman traps (live traps) in order to catch, tag, and release small animals. We caught mice, chipmunks, a squirrel, and a TON of shrews. (We also caught some little brown bats by mist netting).




this is me (4 years ago) holding a dead masked shrew



 There are a bunch of different types of shrews in the Adirondacks, and they all smell. They smell even worse when they are wet. And guess when they are wet? When they are stuck in a trap at 6:30 in the morning. Even if you handled them while wearing gloves, the stink still got all over you. So a whole bunch of my clothes smelled AWFUL because of those stupid shrews. And then I put all of the dirty clothes in my suitcase and drove the 6 hours home to Pennsylvania. And the suitcase was never the same. We febreezed it, we left it outside for days - didn't matter. That was the demise of that suitcase.

Fast forward 4 years later, it's time to get another suitcase because I have to bring a ton of crap with me to Idaho for IMCDA in June!

So hopefully on Christmas morning I will be lounging around in my overpriced Zoot compression tights, reading a book on my Kindle, and packing things in my new suitcase. :) In reality I will be trying to keep the dog out of everyone's way while my family opens presents and whining because after we open presents, there is absolutely nothing to do on Christmas. My goal this year is to watch, in its entirety, "The Christmas Story" because I have NEVER seen it the whole way through! Lofty, I know. Especially since it plays for 24 hours straight.

I am not asking for anything strictly triathlon related, but 2 of the 3 things are going to be quite useful for my 2 destination Ironmans in 2011! And since I can't ask for anything too ridiculous (say, a million bucks or a supermodel boyfriend) I figured these things would be useful items to own. What do you want for Christmas?

happy Thanksgiving!

I had a good, fairly busy Thanksgiving weekend!

I drove home on Thursday morning. Even though they let us out of work 2 hours early on Wed. (I love it when they do that!) I had a chiropractor appointment and a bunch of stuff to do. Plus I hate driving home late. I opted to not bring my bike and trainer home and ended up skipping my bike ride on Friday and just moving it to Sunday.

So.. brace yourselves..

I DID ALL OF MY WORKOUTS THIS WEEK! No skipping and only that ONE moved workout!

While I was home I ate Thanksgiving dinner with my parents, went shopping on Friday with my friend Kerry (but not crazy early morning Black Friday shopping - I don't do that), watched some TV, went to bed really early, played with the dog, etc. It was good! But it's always good to be back in Rochester with my cat! I miss her when I have to leave her here, and she rewarded my return home by sleeping with me all night last night! Ugh.. I am like 1 year away from being a fully committed cat lady!

While on the subject of my apartment here in Rochester, I have officially decided that I am moving when my lease is up in March. My apartment is a dump. It's small, drafty, there is some kind of animal living in the walls, the people downstairs party all the time and smoke in the foyer, people's cars get broken into in the parking lot, and we can't forget that my mountain bike got stolen out of the freaking basement! I get scared to leave my apartment for the weekend because I worry that it's going to get broken into. It doesn't help when other people in the house leave the doors unlocked and the only thing stopping some crazy robber is the fact that my apartment is on the 3rd floor. So, I am out of here! I freaking HATE IT and NEED TO MOVE!!

On an unrelated note, when I was at home I found a scarf that I bought when I went to Ireland in 2003. The scarf still had the tags on it an everything! So now I have a nice scarf! Score. Also, I have been reading a LOT lately - I started reading "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and it's SUPER good. :)

So anyways, things are good, unfortunately it's back to work tomorrow. :(

HTFU

It is officially time to get back into it. (For real this time!). Some things have happened this past week that have put a damper on my attitude towards training. Time to get over it!

Lack of overall motivation. It was hard to get motivated for several reasons last week. I am not running, I was on overnights, I was having trouble sleeping, I had like 6 hours of scheduled workouts, and I was bummed out. I skipped a few workouts. I got the OK from Mary to do so (sometimes you just have a bad week where you need to sleep) but I can't be doing that anymore. I felt really guilty taking days off during such an easy week. Solution? This week I enter "Base 1" of my training.. so my hours were upped from 6 to 9! I am going to focus on getting quality workouts in every day. Everything else that has been going on is getting moved to the back of my brain because it does not do any good to dwell on things that I cannot change. Regardless of how bad I am feeling, I need to HTFU and get my workouts done!

I am cutting out all alcohol products that contain liquor. It's not like I drink a lot, but I do NOT need to be doing shots of tequila during Ironman training. Girls night out was fun. Dressing up was fun. Drunken singing and dancing to Billy Idol was fun. The hangover the next day was not.

However, watching Chrissie Wellington completely DOMINATE at IM Arizona yesterday was ridiculous. There is just not another female pro in the same league as her. 1st female pro, 8th OVERALL pro, came in less than 30 minutes after the first male pro and almost 30 minutes before the next female pro. She broke the world record for fastest female Ironman (Ironman brand) time. Absolutely disgusting. Anytime I watch Chrissie, I feel the need to go exercise for 4 hours and not eat for the rest of the day in hopes that it will make me fast like her!

Also, I have been discovering the many dimensions of Coach Mary. So far she has been a coach, a friend, a pimp (haha), and a therapist life guru. It's really good to know that she doesn't expect me (or any of her athletes) to be a triathlon robot who isn't affected by things that happen in daily life. I can come to her with problems, whether it be an injury, being stressed, lack of sleep from overnights, or a combination of them and she takes it in stride and has a solution, and never freaks out.

She knows that I'm already worried about Coeur D'Alene even though it's 7 months away. I'm worried that I am not running yet. I'm worried because I am so incredibly out of shape right now. I never got this out of shape between 2009 and 2010. But I know she won't send me to an IM unprepared!

So I guess that's that! I have a 4 day weekend coming up! I get to go to my parents' house, play with the dog, watch cable TV, eat lots of good homecooked food, and relax for a few days!

I wish triathletes rode brooms

So, I might be the world's biggest Harry Potter fan. OK, maybe not quite. But I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. I go to sleep every night under a giant blanket with Harry playing quidditch on it. I wake up every morning with a Deathly Hallows tattoo on my wrist. I have read all the books over, and over, and over again. I have been to 2 midnight IMAX movie showings and I went to the midnight release party at Barnes and Noble for the 7th book.

(I have never dressed up as a character. I know where to draw the line).

I would freaking SCHOOL anyone in Harry Potter book trivia.

I own the first 6 movies. Now while I am fond of all of them just because they are Harry Potter movies, some of them annoy me by leaving out giant plotlines, adding in things that didn't happen, or making changes to what did happen. While I understand that a movie cannot encompass everything in a book - some of the movies are better than others.

That being said. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I was phenomenal. It's been a while since I read the book (probably a year) but since I've probably read it 10 times already, I'm pretty familiar with it. :) The movie really nailed it! It was funny, scary (just ask Matt who was sitting next to me every time I leaped out of my seat in fright), emotional, and freaking spot-on with the book. Some minor things were left out.. but not much!

See, I am not all about bikes and running and whining about bikes and running!

I have other interests! Harry Potter! horses! and.. uh.. boys?

bad decisions, bad week

Hello, my name is Alexa, and I make bad decisions. For example. I ran for an hour on Sunday. Running for an hour totally messed up my hamstring that WAS getting better. Would I have done this if I was left to my own devices? No. But when someone asked me to run, I went. I am blaming no one but myself. I could have said "no I can't run because I am trying to fix this problem" OR "yes I can run but only for 20 mins." But I suppressed these thoughts and ran anyway, hoping the run wouldn't do any real harm. I rarely run with anyone else so I was excited for the opportunity to have company. Halfway through the run when my quads were burning, my hamstring felt tight, and my heart rate hit 181 (not kidding) I knew that I had made a stupid decision.

Stupid, stupid girl.

I have not been writing much as of late. Mainly because I am still not doing much, I am depressed that I am not running, and I'm worried that I am not going to get my running fitness back to where it needs to be for next year. I am also kind of emotional and while it helps me to write things down, the entirety of the internet does not need to read about my angst. I have a whole bunch of unpublished blog posts written that serve as a catharsis without letting too much of my personal life out on the internet.

I am entirely too sensitive. I wish I had the ability to let things roll off me without affecting me. Instead, I take everything personally, I CONSTANTLY over-analyze situations, and I get myself worked up - usually over nothing.

Working out is my outlet, however since that is not going so well at the moment, I need an outlet for my outlet.

Work has not been going well for me this week either. I am on a week of overnights, which I hate, but normally I can cope with them ok. This week is different. Monday and Tuesday I experienced what I can only describe as severe anxiety after waking up in the afternoon and thinking about having to go to work all night. Monday I dealt with it by crying, skipping my workout, and immediately going back to bed for 4 more hours before work. Yesterday I cried, forced myself to do my workout, watched Glee, and then went into work. Every day this week I have been nauseous and the smell of food disgusts me, which has led to barely eating anything. Because of this, I have dropped a few pounds. Now while I am thrilled at any weight loss, losing weight due to being so stressed out and nerve wracked that I can't physically eat is not my ideal way to do it. I will take sanity and a couple extra lbs of chub ANY DAY!

I shall probably regain all of that weight back on Friday as I binge eat candy in the movie theatre when I go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I!!!

At least there is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

lazy blog list

I think I am going to follow suit with what my friend Amelia did in her blog. Yes I am copying her, but I am really tired, forced to stay awake, and I can't think right now. Basically, she made lists of the highs and the lows of her week. I am pretty much doing the same except mine is more.. current/upcoming things. Let's face it, I am exhausted and being lazy. I don't even have the energy to type out any more complete sentences! I can't wait to go home and pass out. (I may have already napped sitting upright in my computer chair at work - that's definitely a first).

Things that are bumming me out:

• I am still on C-shift at work
• the daunting task of cleaning my apartment
• my cat might have a cavity which means she may have to have a tooth pulled
• I will not get to see Ultra Adam for a long time.. like a month!
• having no vacation time for the rest of the year
• I have a freakish amount of bills to pay this month
• I ran for too long on Sunday and now my hamstring and my quads hurt

Things that make me smile:

• the new Harry Potter movie comes out this week
• I am all caught up with episodes of Glee
• the thought of going to bed immediately when I get home
• I got to go to Chuck's on Sunday (my favorite bar from when I lived in Syracuse)
• I also got to see a Syracuse Orange basketball game!
• the weather is SO NICE for November
• it's almost that time of year ---- CHRISTMAS!

give me a "P"!

The word of the day is: priority.

I can thank Kim for this topic, as we have had numerous discussions about it lately.

Prioritizing is something that every person, ever, has to deal with. Regardless of whether you are an endurance athlete, a couch potato, single, married with kids, unemployed, or a CEO, guess what you have.. priorities! Even if you're 5 and the #1 thing on your list is finding some toy you lost - it still counts!

Obviously, lots of people share a lot of similar priorities - family/friends, career, money. But then these things can branch out in so many directions.. it is amazing to me that someone will stand in line for hours to buy the new Call of Duty, but that same person probably is amazed that I stood in line for over 6 hours to register for an Ironman. My dad prefers watching PSU football games. I think my brother's #1 priority is drinking as many PBRs as humanly possible. :)

It's pretty easy for me to determine what should become a priority in my life. Simply - if it's something that I love, if it's something that makes me happy, or if it's something that helps me attain either of the first two things (AKA my job) - that's all it takes.

My current priorities include: friends/family, triathlon, my cat and horse, my job, and "me" time. I think that last one is really, really important. There are a lot of people out there that try to cram too much crap into their day and neglect to take time for themselves. And how much of that stuff that they are doing is REALLY something that is important to them? I understand that people have obligations, but seriously, sometimes you just have to say no. You have to be your #1 obligation! Perhaps that is why I spend so much time in my apartment with my pants off?

Everything in life is dynamic. At one point, triathlon did not even exist in my lifestyle. Five years ago, school took precedence. Time spent riding my horse has been reduced. New people have entered my life. Shit changes. You have to be able to adapt to things coming into and leaving your life. People always tell me that they would never have the time to train for an Ironman. That is bullshit. The time is available. That's what 5 am is for. I don't get up at 5 am to train because I don't have to, but if it was necessary, I would. I will move my workouts around in order to visit my family or see friends. Because Ironman is important to me but so are the people in my life.

It's all about balance. But I'm probably preaching to the choir here.

If you want something, or it makes you happy, then make it happen. If not, then move on.

ice ice baby

I think there is something wrong with me.

Before 348957 people chime in and say "well, yeah" - let me explain.

I am always cold. From October - April I freeze 24/7. In the summer, it's more sporadic. I'm not saying that if it's 95 degrees out that I'm cold THEN, but the problem with summer is air conditioning. This is why I will not wear shorts. (Well, I also won't wear them because I think that shorts are trashy and gross - and by this I am not referring to athletic shorts, but like.. denim shorts). Because no matter HOW hot it is outside, within 5 minutes of stepping into some public place that is air conditioned, I am wishing for a winter coat. I deal with this by always bringing something warm with me (such as a sweater or hoodie) if I know I am going to the movies, to dinner, to a doctor's appointments, or basically anywhere that I am going to be in AC for longer than 30 mins.

This is pretty normal for a girl.

What is not normal is the degree of cold I have been this week. I have been cold in places that I am normally cold this time of year - such as in my car first thing before the heat comes on, or in Wegmans, however I have been freezing my ass off in really weird places.

I am not normally cold at the gym. When I am there, I am either lifting - which makes me sweat and therefore makes me hot, or swimming, and my gym likes to heat the pool to a temperature suitable for "water walkers" AKA it's like 85 degrees in there. Usually I am DYING while I swim laps. Not anymore! Now I shiver and wonder if it would be inappropriate to wear my wetsuit in the pool.

I AM typically cold in my apartment. It's drafty and I don't really have a good source of heat (I have 2 weird portable plug-in heaters - one in my living room and one in my bedroom). This is what I get for living in an attic. Anways, I freeze in my apartment all the time but usually I can combat it by blasting the living room heat and snuggling up under some blankets. Yesterday, it didn't matter what I did. I had the heat on, I had multiple layers of clothes on, I had 2 blankets on me AND my cat on my lap with my hands underneath her, and I was STILL F-ING COLD!

At work I have been cold all week. I wear a thick button-down sweater over a short-sleeved shirt every day at work. (Actually, I wear the SAME sweater every day - yes I know this is gross. I am gross. I do wash it.. weekly.) But this in addition to the lab coat I wear at work is usually enough to keep me warm. Not so much now. I had to switch out the short-sleeved polo shirt for a long sleeved shirt, and I am STILL COLD. The only ways that I have been able to temporarily warm up at work are to stand behind one of the instruments that blows hot air out of its vents (problem is, this only occurs when the instrument is being used which is maybe twice a week) or to run scalding hot water on my hands.

In fact, the only places that I have been able to stay warm are in bed, while riding the trainer, and in the shower.

What is going on? I'm not sick. I feel healthy. I'm finally sleeping again. It's not even winter yet!

I'm a girl.. I am genetically predisposed to retain fat. Isn't this fat supposed to insulate me?!?

random

Alright, so I don't really have anything to write about. I have completed 1 week of very minimal training. Whoop-di-do. But I am being pressured by a certain friend to blog. So here goes (apologies in advance for being lame).

My super-random list of things, in no particular order:

1) I don't think anything in the entire world pisses me off more than Americans and their bottled water. Things including: screaming babies, uber-religious zealots, people driving Hummers, any kind of conservative bumper sticker on a car, skinny hipster jeans on dudes. All of these things bother me less than bottled water. WATER IS FREE, PEOPLE!

2) I thought unicorns were real WELL past the age that it was appropriate for me to be believing that unicorns were real.

3) There is a guy at work named Gary Fisher. Every time I hear his name, I wonder if he owns a bicycle company.

4) I hate having to cram my cat into her cat carrier. Although I pick her up and snuggle her all the time, she seems to somehow KNOW when I pick her up with a non-cuddling motive (i.e. stuffing her in the travel box). She combats this by wriggling, meowing, spontaneously shedding massive amounts of fur, and clawing me. She has a vet appointment on Friday. I already know I am going to show up to that appointment covered in fur, probably bleeding, and feeling really guilty.

5) Another thing about my cat.. she is awesome. She sleeps with me, she snuggles me every day on the couch, when it is cold out she will lie on top of my hands to keep them warm! I love her! Best cat ever!

6) I ran today for 15 minutes. It was cold and dark out. I wore my Lululemon shorts and a long sleeved tech shirt. It felt GREAT!

7) I cannot even begin to explain the warm, fuzzy feeling that I get while watching Glee. I know, it's really ridiculous. I actually went and bought Season 1 on Sunday because Netflix couldn't send the discs to me fast enough!

there's a first time for everything

It is now Friday evening.

This week has been a week of many firsts. My first week of structured training since Syracuse 70.3. My first "run" since admitting to myself that I have a hamstring issue (more on this later). The first sick day I've taken at my still relatively new job. The first time I've actually voted at a polling site. The first time I've turned on my heat in at least 6 months. My first time eating a crepe.

I could probably continue..

Mary, Matt, and Alan are all racing IMFL tomorrow! I have an epic case of Iron-jealousy. I wish I was there. Not necessarily racing, but cheering, taking photos, volunteering, supporting friends and just taking in the Ironman atmosphere! (OK, maybe racing..). Also, getting away from the cold, rainy, miserable weather here in Rochester wouldn't be awful, just sayin'.

On Wednesday, I successfully ran for 10 minutes. Haha! I would have run for longer but I had to squeeze it in after work but before my chiropractor appointment at 4:15. It was stiff, but it wasn't painful. I am supposed to start adding in slow, easy runs to my schedule. Kenny the chiro thinks that the stiffness is more of "non-use" than being injured and he thinks that running will help stretch the muscles out. So I will continue to go get poked, scraped, stretched, etc. but I can start running again. YAY!

That is all for now. Time to go eat some PIZZA!

swimming, sweatpants & Syracuse marathon!

Just want to wish Coach Mary and her family good luck as they travel to Panama City for IMFL today! Matt C. will be joining them down there at some point as well. Ironman day is Saturday!
I don't know where my brain has run off to lately. Yesterday was my first swim workout for the new season. Swimming is my least favorite of the 3 things to do, but I understand that it needs to be done so I go and I do my workouts. I may whine, but I get that shit done. I printed my swim set at work, stuck it in my purse, and then went straight to the gym after work. I was all ready to go - swimsuit on, cap and goggles in hand - when I realized I had left the workout in my car. Which was parked half a mile away in the parking garage. F%*&. There went my motivation. The tiniest thing can derail my motivation to swim because it's BARELY there to begin with. I did not want to have to put all of my clothes back on and walk back to the 3rd floor of the parking garage for a piece of paper. This is where having a cell phone with internet capabilities would be so very useful. Unfortunately, I am stuck with a 3 year old ghetto cell phone that likes to turn off at random. Anyways, I decided to pull my workout out of my ass. The only thing I could remember was the drill that I was supposed to do. So I did a warmup. Made up a set. Then I did the drill work.

Not the way I wanted to get back into swimming, but oh well.

I went home after the gym, changed, then walked to my polling site and VOTED! Yeah America!

On my walk home from voting, my friend Mark over at TriDadofFive called me. He wanted to see how my training was going. Also, he is hosting one of my Syracuse teammates (teammate AND Train-This coach), Kelly (TriMommyLife), for a 50K in the Rochester area this weekend. I think they know each other from grad school maybe? Not sure. Anyways, while I was talking to Mark, Kelly called him. And this is what ensued..

Mark: Hang on, Kelly is calling me on the other line.

Me: ok

Mark (comes back to the line I'm on): Kelly wants to know if you're wearing pants.

hahahahahah! I think these crazy triathletes know me a little too well.

Unfortunately, I was wearing pants. It is just too cold in my apartment now to go pantsless. :( It is a sad day for Alexa when the weather turns cold and forces me to slip into my winter version of no-pants: giant sweatpants.

On a final note, Ultra Adam brought this to my attention last night - Syracuse is getting a marathon (and half-marathon)! It's surprising to me that Syracuse does not already have a marathon, but good for them!

http://empirestatemarathon.com/

I'm always up for a half-marathon within driving distance. It's kind of funny, the course is just a giant loop around Onondaga Lake, which I believe is one of the most polluted lake in the USA. Maybe the runners can pass the time by looking for wildlife with odd-numbered legs. However, October in Syracuse is very pretty so that will be nice! So all of you NY state residents, keep that one on your radar!

it's trainer season..

Wow. Yesterday I did my 1 hour on the trainer. It was rough - I am REALLY out of shape! It will be good to get back into it though. I had to pack my swim bag for today because I go to the gym right after work. Swimming? What's that?!

One thing I need to do is get my tri bike onto my trainer. My old, ill-fitting road bike has been set up on my trainer for the past year. Literally, there has been a bike mounted on a trainer in the middle of my living room for over a year. (Don't worry, I have it positioned so that I can lie on my couch and the bike does not obstruct my view of the TV). I did all of my winter pre-Placid training rides on my road bike/trainer combo and while it's ok to use during the summer when I don't feel like setting my tri bike up on my trainer for an hour recovery spin, I really need to get the tri bike on the trainer now for the upcoming long rides, because they are important. The tri bike is more comfortable and is what I race on so it only makes sense to do all of the long trainer rides on it. Unfortunately, that means I have to adjust my trainer to accommodate the smaller wheels.. and that might take me an entire afternoon to do because I am not so good with tools - wrenches and whatnot.

A non-tri related task that I need to start working on is organizing/cleaning my apartment. I'm not talking about dusting, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning type stuff. I'm talking about a purge of all the shit that I don't need or use. I have always wanted to have one of those adult looking minimalist homes where there's not a lot of clutter.. but in reality my home is the exact opposite of that. I have a pretty small apartment and a TON of crap. Especially because I have lived there for almost 3 years - stuff just tends to accumulate. This weekend I was trying to find my cat's nail trimmers and I just couldn't find them! However, during the search, I found 3 Yankee candles that I bought last Christmas that I previously had been unable to find. I have an assload of clothes that I will probably never wear again, old college biology textbooks, parts to a computer that is no longer in my apartment, just sooooo much crap. Winter is the perfect time for "the purge" to happen.

So the moral of the story is.. I am messy. And out of shape. I aim to fix both of these things ASAP!

back to it.. sort of

It is November 1st.

Today, is the first day of tri-season training.

Unfortunately, today is a day where I also feel like ass.

I have not been sleeping well for the past week. Last night, as I was falling asleep on my couch at 6:45 pm, I decided to surrender, take 2 Ibuprofen PMs, and crawl into bed before 8 pm.

I crawled OUT of bed at 5:45 am to get ready for work. That is nearly 10 hours of sleep.

I still feel absolutely horrendous. I don't know if I am getting sick or what. I am exhausted, I have a headache, my stomach is queasy, and I just feel.. off.

Unfortunately, even after I escape from leave work, I still have to go to a chiropractor appointment, Wegmans, and do an hour ride on my bike before I can crawl onto my couch and snuggle under a pile of blankets.

It looks like it's going to be the type of week where I pound orange juice with extra calcium and vitamins, and spend all of my spare time sleeping. I guess it's that time of year.. I hate getting sick. I hate the cold. I hate winter. I hate that I still need to take the AC unit out of my bedroom window, and that soon I will be forced to turn on my heat. I hate putting the flip flops away for the next 6 months. I will be cold from now until June.

In an attempt to "think ahead" to a time that is warmer..

I am currently looking into a half IM for May. Two that are on the radar are the Kinetic half in Virginia, and the Little Smokies half in Ohio. Unfortunately, I WAS looking for something that was within driving distance and that would take 0 vacation days for me to do. I'm not sure if that exists in May.. but both of these are driveable with perhaps 1 vacation day needed. It's a long way off so I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. More research needs to be done!


P.S. I watched an episode of Glee yesterday where they sang "Defying Gravity" from Wicked and my heart almost melted because I love Wicked! I also love Glee more and more every episode. :)