Rocky 7: Rocky takes on the Rhoomba

For Christmas, my mom gave me something called The Rhoomba. It's a little automated vacuum cleaner. All you have to do is push a button on the top and it starts zooming around the room. You can have it isolate itself to one room or go all over the place. It's pretty cool actually and doesn't do a bad job! It's kind of fun to watch!

The first day I busted it out of the box, the 45 page book of instructions (that I didn't read past page 6) said to charge it for 6 hours before the first use. So I unpacked "the docking station" and plugged it in, then took the actual Rhoomba out of the box and placed it on the sensor of "the docking station." The button to start it is on the top and it lights up when activated and will glow when charging.

Rocky was going about his daily activities: eating, running around the house, chewing on his toys, peeing (preferrably outside). I was watching him when he spotted the Rhoomba and it's glowing button. He tenatively stepped up to it and started sniffing. He started getting braver and stepping closer and closer until his nose was touching the side of the Rhoomba. He noticed the glowing button and immediately put his nose on the spot of light and the Rhoomba came to life. Rocky jumped about 4 feet into the air and ran from the suddenly alive robot vacuum cleaner-thing. To regain his place as "the fastest and most sporadic being to run around the house" Rocky immediately started telling the Rhoomba who's boss!! The Rhoomba would retalliate and zoom at Rocky and he would run the opposite direction but come back for more when he was sure it was safe. It was a harrowing time at the house!!!! The battle continues to this day. I see a "Rocky 8" in the future.

IN THIS CORNER: Rocky

AND IN THIS CORNER: The Rhoomba Robot

The initial "What the...?!"

"Grrrrrrrrrr!"

"You can't get away from me!!!"

Barking at me about the Rhoomba.

Barking at the Rhoomba, about the Rhoomba.

What will happen next?!

In Training: Weeks 2 & 3

Week 2: A wash.
After a great start to my training, my job has to come along and mess it all up! I prefer to run in the mornings instead of the evening because by then, all I want to do is go home. I like to get it out of the way and feel energized for the rest of the day!! Well, I had meetings, treatments for athletes with schedule conflicts, interviews with candidates for graduate assistant positions, and on day of "I just don't wanna!"

Week 3: Back in the saddle!
While this week started off looking like last week, I ended on a high note! I usually run M,T,W,F, and sometimes Saturday. Well, Monday I had a meeting and Tuesday I had to go to the doctor with an athlete. But I did make up for it by biking and lifting Wednesday, running Thursday and Friday, and running then biking on Saturday! Woo hoo!!

Moment of embarrassment: tripping over my shoelace (I didnt realize it was untied) while running on the concourse of the arena when two athletes and a student I have worked with in the past just happened to be walking the opposite direction to get to a class.

Eclipse (not the gum)

For those of you that didn't notice, last night we had a lunar eclipse. I frequently went to my window and looked out at it and marveled at the stages. It was a great reminder at how small we are in respect to the universe and the beauty behind it.

I was listening to the radio yesterday morning when they were talking about this event and one of the interns at the station was asked if he was going to watch it. He said no because he didn't have the special glasses to see it so he wouldn't burn out his eyes. Everyone (including me) laughed at him because that would be for a solar eclipse.

Educator of the Year goes to...?

"Casey, can I talk to you? I think I have a problem."
"Sure."
"Well, I think I need to see a doctor."
"Okay. Why do you think you need to see a doctor?"
"Well, I think something is wrong with my digestive tract."
"Okay. What's going on?"
"I ate dinner last night and I had corn. But this morning I went to the bathroom and the corn came out whole!"
(Hesitation due to determining if this is serious or a joke. Survey says? Serious.)
"Well, actually the human body lacks the enzyme necessary to digest corn. So...it always comes out whole. You're fine. No one can digest it...except barnyard animals."
"Oooohhh...really?!"

I love it.

What a life!

In Training: Week 1

Last week was my first official training week. For those of you that do not know, I am going to run in the OneAmericaMiniMarathon in Indy this May. It is the largest mini-marathon in the country and it signifies the beginning of celebrating Indy car race season, ending with the Indy 500 in late May.
I ran it for the first time last year and it was quite an experience!! I actually had a lot of fun running in it. That was the furthest I have ever run in my entire life and I actually did very well!! Anyone that I was in touch with last year would tell you that during the training, I was a mess. I didn't think I could do it b/c I was so burned out. My training slacked off to where I could barely go 3 miles without mentally shutting down. I was putting way too much pressure on myself. Raceday, everything clicked and I just focused on everything around me and all the people in the race. It was great!
This year I'm at it again. I am determined to have a better outlook in my training and am comforted in the fact that I have done it before and I can do it again. I've been running a lot the past few months so I feel I am a little further along than I was last year. My longest runs right now are only 4 miles but that is mainly cuz it's too friggin' cold to run outside and I can only run on a treadmill or in a circle for so long. 4 miles is about my cracking up point. So far...so good.

Mommy? Can I sleep in your bed tonight?

I had a nightmare last night. Well, first I had a fantastic dream...then I had a nightmare. My fantastic dream was me on stage at American Idol singing "Proud Mary" all Tina Turner-like. I was awesome. I brought the house down. I woke up from that one at 1:48a.m. and was very proud of myself. Major ego boost shrowded in horrible inaccuracies? Check! I know this because I can't sing for crap.

I went back to sleep and had a dream that Ryan had died. At least I think he died. I just remember being very sad and sitting in a room full of people in dark clothing. I remember wanting to see him or wanting him to be there with me but that it was impossible. It was kinda scary. I woke up from that one (thankfully) at 5:40am to my phone ringing and a major thunderstorm. I looked at the bed next to me and Ryan wasn't there. He was supposed to be coming back from an away game and should have been home around 3:00a.m., but his side of the bed was empty. My heart started racing and I could feel me holding my breath. I grabbed my phone and saw that he was calling me. Apparently their bus broke down and he was just now in his car heading back to the house. I told him to be extra careful- when I was sure I was actually awake. He made it home with no problem, and was just in time for me to have to get up and get ready for work. Maybe we will be able to hang out together again someday...

We'll say in April.

Post bath time

Clean and naked.

Clean and not naked.....see the difference?

Date Night for the Old Farts

Last night was date night. We don't have too many of these nights but we decided to have one last night. Probably had something to do with recently getting paid.....nah! So anyway, Ryan had a great idea to go to this place in downtown Indy called Jillian's. It's like a Dave and Buster's only...well, I dont really know the difference cuz I've never been to one of those either. We get there at about 8:00pm and first thing's first. Eating. There is a restaurant right when you walk in and then a three storey staircase leading to an arcade, a bowling alley, and a pool hall.

The food was great. We didn't get anything fancy and the plus was we got discounted game cards for a $10 value for only about $5. Hey, this girl loves a bargain!!! So after dinner we went upstairs to kill off some brain cells with overly-violent and soft-core sexually explicit video games. What ever happened to the Mario Brothers?! Ryan of course scouted out the Star Wars game and got to the level where he dueled Darth Vader. It was about as intense as it sounds...not really. Needless to say, Ryan was sweating afterwards and kinda pissed off that Vader's Jedi powers somehow outperformed his own. I mean he can make the doors open by themselves everytime we go into a CVS or a grocery store!!!! That's power!

Next stop was shoot 'em up game where you were the police and you had to shoot all the bad guys in the head. What was different was that you stood on a platform and it could sense you when your character needed to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge other bullets. It was pretty cool and kinda addicting. You get to pick out your character and of course Ryan says, "You gotta be the chick."
Whatever. All right. So I pick the headshot of the "chick." The game begins and I see this the blonde chick with huge boobs running down the street with SWAT team clothed police officers. She on the other had is wearing a see-through midrift shirt with visible bra. And what see-through shirt isn't complete without the daisy-dukes and combat boots?! I mean come on! That is the standard police uniform!!! On the bright side though the game was actually pretty fun and we got some great pics of us looking like idiots trying to dodge make-believe bullets and crouching down to hide behind a car on the screen. Who needs an ego anyway?! The rest of the games were okay. I did play skeeball (one of my personal favorites) but for some reason I remember it being a lot bigger and harder as a kid.

We left after getting our fill of the games that we liked and headed home. Ryan was snoring by midnight and I was watching Sex and the City in my sweats. Good date night.

Me and Ryan...again.

Well, we did it again. Another good picture and it only took us four months from the only other good picture in existence. We are on a roll!! This is right before our champagne toast to the new year at a friend's house.