The Bet

One of my thesis committee members (another CA transplant) met his wife during his last year of grad-school when he was at MIT. His wife is from New England and thus, he has never left. In a friendly verbal jousting match he wanted to bet that I wouldn't make it back West. I told him that if I had to drop out and turn into a surfer bum to be on the West Coast, I would totally do it. It went like this:

Neal: So Michelle... where do you think you'll end up?
Me: West Coast. Maybe not California... but think I could do Oregon or Washington.
Neal: (evil laugh) watch... you'll end up staying here like everyone else
Me: Over my dead body.
Neal: We'll see... (evil laugh again)... wanna make a bet?
Me: (with the 'I'm gonna get you' sassiness) Sure. Fifty bucks says that within 10 years I'll be back on the West Coast
Neal: What are the odds?
Me: What do you mean "odds"?
Neal: You know... 2:1, 3:1 etc. (he continues to explain this to me)
Me: OK, the odds are 1:1
Neal: No way. You want to be back on the West Coast which works against me... not worth it.
Me: OK, fine. 2:1. In 10 years, if I'm on the West Coast, you'll owe me $50 and if I don't make it, I'll send you a check for $100
Neal: Hey, a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks
Me: Ya, but you'll be sending me a check... and I don't want any excuses like your kids are in college...
Neal: Laughs and looks at me as if thinking 'poor naive graduate student'

It's all in good humor... since we're both from the Golden State we've got a sort of unbreakable bond (except he likes the Dodgers and I like the Padres). But if I win, you better believe I'm going to drop him an e-mail.

Summer in April

This weekend was absolutely unbelievable. We went from snow flurries on Easter weekend to 90 degree's this past Saturday! It felt so good to just get some sun! I ate my breakfast on the front porch... I went on a bike ride, I ran, I played some tennis... ah sun... and I'm back to sleeping with my window open to feel the breeze while I sleep. It's the simple things in life...

Highlight of the weekend was a bonfire on Saturday night at my friends the Holman's. They've got a pit in their yard and so we had some hot dogs and marshmallows. We were outside until almost 11pm in our tank tops and flip flops and never got chilly! And I got to catch up with some friends I haven't seen in a while which was really great.

So that's it. Now it's Monday and I'm going to be here in the lab until at least 10pm tonight... boo.

Boston Marathon Weekend Pictures

Corey, Aunt Listy and Kim at the Expo for the Boston Marathon a couple days before the race.

Aunt Listy giving Uncle Bob a hug with 8/10 of a mile left to finish! We found her amongst ~28,000 runners!

Kim, Corey and Aunt Listy- a post-race picture... can you believe they are all smiling after 26.2 miles?!?

Aunt Listy and Me being very cold at the Red Sox game

Uncle Bob and Aunt Listy outside of Fenway

Minuteman Trail Run

On day two of my aunt and uncle being here in town, while my Aunt Listy, Kim and Cory (the three marathon runners) were scouting the race terrain, my Uncle Bob, Reuben and I went for a run on the Minuteman Trail starting in Lexington.

Believe it or not, it is not easy to figure out which direction to start in so we chose, accidentally, the wrong way. We ended up in the heart of Lexington at a memorial that was erected on this very day in 1775... what are the odds that we should see this on April 19th! Pretty cool. But we did want to run the trail since my Aunt Listy rates this as in her top 10 runs ever, so we turned around and got back on the trail.

We started going and saw some pretty cool stuff along the trail- including the Patriots Day re-inactors in their tents and some old buildings but it was pretty cool. We were running for about 1:30 hours and it felt great!!

More another day... we're off to the Red Sox game!

Patriot's Day Weekend

This is so exciting... my aunt and uncle are in Boston all the way from San Diego because my Aunt Listy qualified for the Boston Marathon that will take place on Monday April 20th, Patriot's Day. MA is the only state that "celebrates" this day, so for all of my friends out in CA, I'm sorry you don't get it off!!

Today, Saturday, we're doing touristy type things like the freedom trail. But it's going to be a balmy 60 degrees out so it will be great to walk around! On Sunday, we're going to the Red Sox game at Fenway and then Monday is the marathon. We're staying loose and flexible because it's a fairly large group that will be here, but it should be fun. I'll be back with pictures later!

My Day Off

I officially took today off. Originally I thought that my aunt and uncle were coming in to town today instead of tomorrow so I planned on taking the day off. When I found out on Thursday that they were actually coming on Saturday (at 7 am-yikes!) it was too late to make plans for the lab so I decided to have a mental health day. It was glorious. It was at least 70 degrees out so after running some errands, I went on a 13.5 mile bike ride (first time I've had the bike out since last year), then I went for a 30 minute jog because I just needed more sun, then I lifted weights for 30 minutes, then I swam laps for about 45 minutes. All followed by a long shower. The day is ending with me painting my fingernails and typing this blog. It felt sooo good to feel the sun on my skin again. Too bad this weekend will not be more of the same. I'm sure glad I took advantage of today!

Wordless Wednesday- "You Can Stand Under my Umbrella"