Overloaded by Cuteness, One day at a time

Every year for Christmas my Mom gives my brother and I each a daily calendar for our desks at work. She picks them based on each of our interests and then goes through and writes us little notes and inspirational quotes. Things like:

Thursday, January 1, 2009: So what are your dreams for 2009?

Saturday, Februrary 14, 2009: Mom and Dad love you lots! Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday, April 24, 2009: "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen Keller

Tuesday, April 7, 2009: "Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says: 'Make me feel important.' Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life." - Mary Kay Ash

Thursday, November 12, 2009 (that's right, I looked into the future): "Of course there is no formula for success except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings." - Arthur Rubenstein.

It's her way of sending us notes now that we're in our late (gasp!) twenties and she doesn't pack our lunches anymore (though to be fair I think that stopped in 6th grade). Just before this past Christmas, knowing that a daily calendar was probably in the cards, I put in a request for the most coolest, greatest, CUTEST calendar out there: The Cute Overload Calendar. Apparently I was pretty good last year, cause my wish was granted.

And let me tell you, this calendar is awesome. Every morning I'm greeted with a color photo of some adorable (often baby) animal. And I have to admit, it makes my day a little brighter. The only problem is, I have trouble throwing each day's photo away, and so I've been collecting my favorites...though I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with them (cute paper airplanes? adorable wrapping paper? snuggleable note paper?).

Some of the pages feature the Rules of Cuteness. These very scientifically proven rules explain actions and elements that are always cute. For example, #5: Fisheye lens + baby animals is always cute. Or, #8: If you can eat your furniture, you're cute. Or, #10: If you haven't grown into your feet yet, it's cute. So far on the daily calendar I've gotten to Rule #25: Dangling paws are cute.

My collection of the Rules of Cuteness:

I have to admit, the dog pictures tend to be my favorites. Here are a few I particularly liked:

Puppy!!

Cute or sad? Both! Sute!

Corgies rock my world.

I also tend to have a soft spot for rodents:

Awwww.

Hedgehog fail for the (cute) win!

And who doesn't love a panda?

Pretty much its the greatest one-a-day calendar ever. They should totally hire me as their spokesperson. I could be the Billy Mays (may he rest in peace) of cuteness. "Hi! Cute calendar spokesperson here."

Learning to Run: Fireflies

Last night was busy. There were errands to run, laundry to wash, and groceries to buy. And by the time they were all done it was already 8 pm and the sun was beginning to set. But time of night be damned, I still wanted to run. And so did Scott.

We threw on our running clothes and hit the road, in the direction of our new favorite route. This route follows a couple of connecting path and cuts through a park, forming a satisfying circular loop (I really enjoy not having to turn around and double back). Even though the route parallels a major highway for a bit there's still a sense of isolation and disconnectedness. Despite the background lull of passing cars there's a stillness and quiet that's especially present at night.

Our run began at dusk, and the night gathered around us with every subsequent step. And with every degree of light we lost, another handful of fireflies would emerge. Two thirds of the way through the run the woods, bushes, and sky around us were filled with swarms of fireflies. Like sparkles of light dancing on a lake, or stars twinkling in the sky.

I ran without music last night, and found it easy to sink into my thoughts and just watch the light show the fireflies were putting on. It was peaceful and spiritual, and I found myself full of thank yous and gratitude. Grateful for strong legs, grateful for a beautiful place to run, grateful for Scott introducing me to running and helping me keep it up.

It was an excellent run; not only beautiful but fast and challenging. Scott estimates we ran 3 to 4 miles in 37 minutes. It left me wonderfully tired and relaxed, ready to grab a good dinner and wander off to bed.

Update: We mapped it. 3.4 miles!

Thriller - Lego Style

The music world (and maybe even the lego world) will never be the same. Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009).

Learning to Run: Sprints

Despite feeling the beginnings of a cold coming on, I went for a run with Scott yesterday. I've heard that germs can't hit a moving target, and that sweating is good for you, so even though I wasn't feeling in top form, I got myself out there.

Surprisingly, it felt really good to run. Scott and I decided to take it somewhat easy and aim for just a twenty minute run. I fully embraced the "taking it easy" approach, while Scott on the other hand surged ahead after about the first 10 minutes of running together. That's kind of become our running method: start out together but then each find our own pace. I don't want to hold him back, so I don't mind it when he goes running ahead.

Scott has also embraced the running ahead then doubling back routine. He runs ahead maybe twenty feet then turns around and heads back toward me. After a few words of encouragement and running with me for maybe 30 seconds he surges ahead again. This repeats multiple times during the run, so he's probably running double the distance I am.

Yesterday I was feeling a little silly (perhaps caused by somewhat-sickness), and so after about the third time of Scott looping back, I changed things up. As he was turning around to run beside me I surged ahead, kicking it into high gear and leaving him in my dust. I laughed evilly ("Mu hahahahah") but he quickly caught up again, and I began to get winded and had to slow down. After I caught my breath I decided to play around again. "Look over there!" I said and left him behind again. We kept this up for the rest of our run, gassing it then slowing down again and again.

We finished on our final hill and I was pretty out of breath at this point, and happy to slow down and go back to walking. "That was fun," I said, to which he replied, "You know, we were pretty much doing sprinting drills." I of course refused to acknowledge that. I didn't want my fun tainted by the possibility that we were doing actual training. :)

This morning I can really feel last night's run in the backs of my legs. It's been a while since I've really been sore the day after a work out (which probably means I'm not working out hard enough). Might have to incorporate these "sprints" more in the future.

June 22nd DC Metro Crash

You've probably heard by now about the horrible DC metro crash that happened last night. I heard about it when I was walking home from the gym; my roommate texted me to see if I was okay (he didn't realize I don't ride the red line to work).

It was a pretty terrifying crash, with the fatality number continuing to creep up (so far nine people have been killed). For me this tragedy hits close to home because I commute on the metro every single weekday and often on the weekends. I know that metro is ridiculously safer than driving (the last major accident metro had was in 2004), but its still frightening to think about.

I've been following the coverage on the Washington Post, but also on DCist (which I prefer). DCist has updates that are easier to follow, and also a more intimate tone. It's like your friend is telling you the news while saying, "Can you believe this happened in our neighborhood?"

Here are some of the recent updates from DCist:

- FEMS, Metro Trade Barbs on Crash Communication

- Death Toll Back Up to Nine, Five Bodies Removed From Wreckage

- NTSB Points Finger at Metro

- METRO eAlerts Not Well Equipped to Deal With Fatal Crashes

- Obama Statement on Deadly Metro Crash

- Morning Roundup: Deadliest Crash in Metro History

But for as frightening as this story is, it's tempered by the beautiful stories of courage and decency that this crisis elicited. Like from this one man the Post interviewed:

Martin Griffith, a civilian employee at the Pentagon, also was inside the train that was struck. Afterward, he said, "I looked out the window. I looked up. I could see the wreckage hanging over the door. There was a woman there, too, trying to hang on."

He hit the emergency release and opened the door out onto the track. "That's when I realized people had been ejected out. They were lying on the ground next to the car," Griffith said.

He said he helped one woman who had fallen near the electrified third rail, collecting other passenger's T-shirts to stanch her bleeding.

After the power to the live rail was turned off and rescuers reached her, Griffith said, he found a teenage girl. He said it wasn't clear whether she had been ejected from the train that hit his or had climbed out on her own. Her legs looked broken, Griffith said, and he sat with her while firefighters used the jaws of life to open the doors on a nearby train so she could be taken to an ambulance.

"She said, 'Tell my boyfriend . . .' " Griffith said, and then he cut her off. "You tell him yourself. You're breathing. You can see me. You don't need to give me any last messages."

He then used her cellphone to call her mother. Ernice Beasly picked up: The injured girl was her daughter Lanice, 14. Later, she said that her daughter was at the hospital, unconscious and badly cut but alive. She said of Griffith: "Thank the Lord for him."

Griffith then walked to the Fort Totten Station and took the Metro home to Northern Virginia, still wearing the black pants and white dress shirt he'd had on at the crash scene.

"People were looking at me strange," he said. "I had blood all over me, none of it my own."

It's always inspiring to hear about people who rise to the occasion when dealing with catastrophes and life threatening situations. I follow a blog by Amanda Ripley, author of The Unthinkable, a book that looks at human behavior in extreme situations. When talking about the DC metro crash she says, "As is so often the case in disasters, people did remarkable things for one another. Survivors [of the DC crash] report fear, confusion and kindness--but not panic."

My heart goes out to the families of those who were killed, and for all of those who had to experience this yesterday.

Mistaken Identity

Oh wrong numbers. They're funny, sometimes awkward, and often disconcerting. Who is this stranger calling me? And why do they seem annoyed when I'm not the person they meant to call? Not my fault!

I had a really random wrong number experience the other day. A call came in from a number I didn't recognize, but for some reason I decided to pick it up. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello?

Caller: Has Jason been by?

Me: Um, excuse me? Who's calling?

Caller: Has Jason been by?

Me: I'm sorry, I don't know who you're talking about.

Caller: Lis?

Me: Yes.

Caller: Liz Jackson?

Me: No.

Caller: Oh. Sorry. Wrong number.

I know there are a lot of Lis/zes out there (I used to hang out only with Lizes), but this was still strange. To have someone call you by your name, but then it still be a wrong call. I kept wondering if I was being pranked (though, least interesting prank ever).

Of course these days not only do you get the pleasure of people calling you accidentally, you also get them texting you accidentally. Here is a for real text conversation I had no less than 30 minutes ago. I present it exactly as I received it (and exactly as I sent it back), with no changes in spelling or CAPITALIZATION:

Texter: KEVIN Y U ACTIN LIK DAT 4?! DIS IS ISIS

Me: I think you have the wrong number

Texter: Who dis?

Me: Not kevin

Now I'm thinking I played that wrong. I should have played the part of Kevin, kept the conversation going and making a better story. Maybe I could have responded with something like:

U no how I roll. Sk8er boyz 4eva!!!!

Happy Thoughts

Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens are all well and good, but sometimes it's all about the videos of cute animals. Here are two of my favs that aren't new, but never seem to get old (to me).

Sneezing Panda



Tickled Slow Loris



If you need more of a cute fix, go to Cuteoverload.com Grandma loved cute and furry animals in any form: real animals, stuffed animals, digital animals (all made her smile).