Seeking anonymity

Yikes -- I just randomly decided to Google myself* and much to my unpleasant surprise, this blog showed up a few (okay like 8) pages into the search.

I blog publicly for work, but I seek anonymity in my personal blog. Sure, it's not hard to put two and two together, but a journalist should maintain some semblance of a private-public life (whaa?)

I removed my last name from my profile long ago, but this just goes to show that the Internet remembers. Always. Watch out.

*Maiden name, of course. I haven't been married long enough for much dirt to show up on my married name. It's too common anyway.

Today's workout in numbers

Locker number: 25

Classes taken: 1

Elliptical machines tried: 3

Total minutes on ellipticals: 45

Towels used: 3

Water bottles drunk: 2

Employees behind front desk as I finished up: 7

Days left before my gym membership ends: 34

Speed queen

Today at work the News Hub got into a random discussion (as usual) about speeding. I don't know how the topic came up (probably inspired by a Newswatch posting, as usual) but everyone went around revealing the fastest speed they'd attained while driving.

Most impressive was JK's 130 mph on a Harley. Yikes.

Funniest was G's response to everyone's 100+ mph responses. His fasted was closer to 85 mph.

Most surprising, apparently, was my 115 (okay, really 120) mph response.

G and the other Hubsters just could not believe that young, innocent Alison was such a daredevil.

Frankly, I can't believe I ever did that either, but there's your exhibit A of teenagers' lack of risk adversity development in their brains. I was fearless at age 16, speeding home from cast parties at 1 a.m. on a dark Naper/Plainfield Rd.

"What else don't we know about you?" they asked me. "Do you have hidden tattoos? Smoke cigars? Have secret piercings?"

It was entertaining telling them how I smuggled a Cuban in from Prague and smoked it on the front steps of Benet after graduation.

Apparently they will never look at me the same.

But doesn't everyone have stories like that?

I was far from a wild child, but I had my moments of rebellion. Now they're lovely gems of my youth. And I plan to continue collecting them.

If anyone's reading this, what wild gems have you collected over your lifetime?

Friendship takes patience

As of today, I've lived in Milwaukee (well, Milwaukee area) for about one year minus one week. I moved to the East Side Feb. 2, 2008 and started working at the Journal on Feb. 4.

Although I've lived here for what, at any other stage in my life, I would consider a long time, I still feel like we're just getting settled here.

True, a lot of changes have happened in the past year. But I never thought it would take me this long to feel like I'm just starting to really consider this place home.

I've always seemed to adapt rather quickly to new places and situations. I started at a new school in junior high but found a best friend and other close friends nearly instantly. I went into high school knowing two people. It took me mere days to find a few good friends and a little more than a semester to find the ones who would become my Friends. In college it took me all of one week to find my best friend and grow our circle from there. 

In my post-college life... well, it's been a year and I still feel like I haven't found my "circle" here. Maybe there never will be a "circle," and I'm okay with that, but it has been a hard year not having very many friends.

I have Peter, and he means much more to me than any friend, but I think our contentment with ourselves, coupled with a concentrated focus on wedding planning for our first seven months here, has really set us back in the social realm.

Peter keeps telling me that in the "real world," aka the non-school world, these things take time. I understand that, and I continue to be patient.

Lately I've been feeling more settled and a little more content with our social situation. Sure, we still spend most weekend nights cuddled up on the couch together, but that's mostly because we're too tired/cold/lazy to do anything else.

We're getting to know more people from church on a more personal level. I've joined a book club and a running club (I will meet the members of both this week). I've become much, much more comfortable with my coworkers and I honestly really enjoy their company while I'm working.

It's taken us (me) a while to get to this point, but I'm willing to be patient. I have a feeling that it will all be worth it in the end. God has a plan for us here and I just need to let Him lay it out.

Mathematical running

Some people daydream when they run. Some analyze their life. Some put their thoughts into perspective. Some runners clear their minds of everything.

And me? Well, I do math.

I know, it doesn't make any sense at all. I've always thought of myself as a right brainer. After all, I'm a journalist.

But for some reason, whether I'm circling a track or taking in scenery, my thoughts always turn into calculations while I'm running.

What kinds of calculations, you ask? I calculate my pace, my anticipated finishing time, what percentage of the workout I've completed, how many laps I have left, what percentage of a mile I've completed, how many laps XX miles would be, what my half marathon time would be, what my average pace is, etc., etc.

The more challenging the calculation, the more excited I get. This hard and fast mental focus gets my mind off my physical pain. It also serves as a mental boost when I reach certain milestones and realize that I'm 66.666% done with my workout. Who wouldn't be excited about that?

Sometimes I wish I could focus on thoughts rather than numbers while I'm running, but for some odd reason my brain doesn't work that way when I'm on the track.

Add up this workout

This evening by the numbers:

Tries it took to parallel park: 4

Fully nude 40-or-older women I saw in the gym locker room: 2

People talking on their cell phone while on a stationary bike/elliptical: 2

People texting while on a stationary bike: 1

Miles I ran: 3

Miles my Nike+ thought I ran: 3.11

Benet chorus songs that randomly came on my iPod while running: 1 (Battle of Jericho)

Pushups I did: 71

Pounds I want to lose: 6

Corndogs I ate when I got home: 1

Corndogs I wanted to eat when I got home: 17

Weak holiday spirit

Our first married Christmas in our first home was not very festive.

I forgot to go "shopping" in my parents' basement for old Christmas decorations, and neither of us wanted to spend money on decorations, so here is what we scrounged up:

(For about three weeks this vase solely held garland. Then I finally bought some fake flows on sale.)

Merry belated Christmas!

Commit to (and love) the one you're with

I just finished reading an embarrassing girly novel, "love the one you're with," by Emily Giffin, and I feel like I cheated on Peter just by reading about the wand'ring heart of the main character. Sheesh.

All in all the book was very addictive and I enjoyed reading it. I even thought it was pretty well-written (for a chick lit novel).

I hadn't finished a book since my 24-hour "Twilight" sprint (even more embarrassing, I know) on the last day of our honeymoon (spent traveling, don't worry) and it felt good to read again. As silly as it sounds, getting caught up in the story gave me something to look forward to in each moment of my day that I could spare to slip in a chapter. It was like an alternate life I could escape to.

It kind of scared me how much the feelings of Ellen, the protagonist, would influence my own feelings. Every time she would think excessively warm, loving thoughts about her husband I would be compelled to pull Peter into a bear hug and repeat how much I love him. When she began to question her life, her choices and her loyalty, I (on a much, much lower level) began to do the same. (SPOILER ALERT!) Thank goodness Ellen ended the story with her head on straight.

The difference between Ellen and me is that all along, no matter what minor questions the book might have brought up in my head, I knew that my commitment to Peter is much more powerful than even my love for him. Every time Ellen was seduced by her own memories, feelings and attraction to her ex-boyfriend I wanted to rip into the pages of the novel and shout at her, "IT'S NOT ABOUT FOLLOWING YOUR HEART!" It's about your commitment. (Why did it take her so long to figure this out?)

If you think marriage and "forever" are based on love, then you're setting yourself up for failure. Obviously love is an ingredient in the mixture, and an important one at that, but loyalty and commitment are really at the heart of it (no pun intended, really.) That's what gets you through the rough patches. You won't always look fondly at your partner and marvel at how he/she makes your heart flutter. At times you'll feel quite the opposite. Working through those times when "love" is the last word that comes to mind is what makes marriage so intense, unique, frustrating, difficult... and rewarding.

Who am I to say this, at the tender age of 22, being married for little more than four months? I have the Bible to back me up. I have wonderful role models and counselors with 25+ years of marriage experience who echo my sentiments. I have anecdotes left and right of why following your heart, wherever it may lead you, is a recipe for divorce.

I may be young, but I am very confident that I'll be singing the same tune 20 years from now. (An important part of this entire equation is that Peter feels the exact same way. Aww shucks, now I'm feeling all gushy about him again...)

Goals: A look back and a look forward

New Year's Eve 2008 was begun with wine and apps at D.O.C. wine bar in Lombard, Ill. It was our first New Year's Eve as legal, 21-year-old adults so of course we wanted to whip out our IDs and order a few bottles (but not too much, as we were driving to Matt's afterwards).

In typical friendship style, someone proposed that we go around the table and share our top three New Year's resolutions. Fresh out of college and just a month away from beginning my first real job and 9 months away from wedding my sweetheart, here were my three 2008 goals:

1) Stay on top of wedding planning deadlines.

2) Run a 10K.

3) Eliminate the words, "like," "um" and "whatever" from my vocabulary.

Reasonable and useful goals. Did I succeed?

1) Meh, I guess all that matters now is that we had the most amazingly perfect wedding and now are blissfully married. I felt perpetually behind on bridal magazine-imposed "deadlines" and had countless wedding nightmares (literally, like bad wedding-related dreams) but in the end everything was just wonderful, and the photos and memories from the entire wedding weekend bring me joy every time I look at, think of or talk about them. :)

2) I did, indeed, run a 10K. Not only did I complete it (in the freezing, windy, freezing cold of April in Milwaukee) but I achieved my time goal of circa 50 minutes AND I won the gold medal for my age/sex group. Even better, I went on to complete a half-marathon in May. I ran the Madison Half Marathon and then promptly fell off the running wagon and have yet to regain any semblance of a fitness level (see this year's goals...)

3) Those words are still, like, totally in my vocabulary, but, um, whatever.

So that brings me to 2009. I didn't officially set resolutions this year (no one asked at our New Year's party, which was more of a debauchery than ever before) but I have one measurable goal that I would like to officially set.

Run a half marathon.

Okay, yeah, uh, like, I know already did that last year. But it was hard. And fun. And right now I can barely run 2 miles, so I don't think setting any higher of a running goal would be wise. I do not think this will be easy, but I would like to run the South Shore Half Marathon on April 11.

Then, if all goes well, I hope to continue training for either the Chicago Marathon or the Lakefront Marathon (preferably Chicago). Yeah, I said it.

Last year my goal was a 10K. I did it, and then moved on to the next challenge.

This year my goal is a half marathon. I hope to both do it and move on to the next challenge in 2009, but I will be quite satisfied if I only (ha, "only") run the half and don't quite make it to the full.

So, in conclusion, tonight I was one of those schmucks who went to the gym for the first time in two months because of some silly New Year's resolution they will probably forget in two weeks. Except I fully intend to keep mine.