big money! no whammy!

Kirstie & Nathan (my sister & brother-in-law) visited last weekend, and we had a really good time. Most ridiculous thing we did? Well...Nathan decided that because he'd never been to a casino before, it was absolutely necessary that we go. So Saturday night, we did. I encourage you to visit any casino's website. You will see many photos of lovely, young, well-dressed people having the time of their lives. I think these people must have been hired, because do you know what we did see?

• Rows and rows and rows of slot machines
• A bright red plastic ashtray at each and every slot machine
• Old ladies clutching dollar bills in the left hand and a burning cigarette in the right hand
• Five middle-aged men on stage playing country music (and they weren't bad, really)
• A "non-smoking area," which measured about 100 square feet and was immediately adjacent to a cigarette vending machine

It was pretty crazy, and Nathan was less than impressed. I suspect this might have something to do with the fact that he put $10 in a slot machine and lost it all in about three minutes. "Big money! No whammy!" he said. But it was big whammy, no money.

We surveyed the despair around us and decided we didn't want to become senior citizens clutching their Social Security money at the penny slots. So we left and went for frozen yogurt.

Kirstie fared pretty well, though. Here she is with her winnings!

couch to 5k: injury fail

Two weeks ago, I started a running program called Couch to 5k. My friend Emily tweeted about it a while ago, and after looking it up, I decided to give it a try. After all, it's so appropriate, given that I sit on the couch during approximately 90% of my free time.

On my fourth day, I felt a twinge in my left knee. I decided, stupidly, to run anyway. That was seven days ago. Today, I am still limping around like an injured old lady.

My ultimate goal: to get better so I can finish Couch to 5k. The goal I'd be okay with reaching if nothing else: I'd love to be able to walk normally again.

Anybody else have any joint issues? How long before you weren't in ridiculous pain?

Sincerely,

Hobbles McGee

Left Behind

Every day at 7:35 a.m., the Tan bus on the Razorback Transit line comes to my apartment. Until last week, I always rode that bus to school.

The bus has a notoriously grouchy driver. I always take coffee or tea in my travel mug to school, and it's Razorback Transit policy to have a lid on all drinks on the bus. I know this policy, and I dutifully abide by it. After weeks of the same bus driver picking me up three days a week at 7:35 a.m., one day, he said rather sternly, "You got a lid on that cup? You can't have a cup on this bus without a lid!" I showed him the lid, and he grumbled.

Last Thursday, at 7:30 a.m., I kissed Ross goodbye and opened the door. Just as I did so, the bus whirred by. "You'd better hurry!" Ross said. And I did hurry. I hurried as fast as a slightly overweight, terribly out-of-shape 26-year-old carrying a 40-pound backpack and a hot mug of tea could hurry. The bus came to a quick halt at its designated stop, and I was only about 30 feet away. "Wait!" I yelled. The bus didn't move. I kept trucking it. As I crossed the street, I signaled to the bus driver, who I am almost positive was looking at me through the rear view mirror. I smiled and breathed a sigh of relief as I approached the rear of the bus.

Just as I got to the bus's tail light, the bus driver DROVE AWAY! I felt so defeated. Ross, who had run outside to see if I'd caught the bus, waved me back to the apartment. "I'll take you to school," he said.

My hero. :-)

Know what? Somebody remind me next week to complain about that cantankerous old bus driver.