Waiting for my Fish to Poop

The title really has nothing to do with anything I'm going to write about today, but it was the subject of one of the most random and hilarious conversations I've had in a long time, so I felt obliged to share. Last night, my friend and former roommate Tina was late to book club because her beta fish was sick. Apparently the poor fish is constipated, and the solution is to feed it a pea and hope that gets things moving. So, scout's honor, the conversation went a little like this: "I'm sorry I'm late, but I was waiting for my fish to poop." At which point my mind immediately went in two different directions. Being an avid animal lover and fostering fond memories of my own dearly departed beta fish, Quincy, I was very sympathetic. However, I might not have expressed my sympathy as well as I meant to because "waiting for my fish to poop" triggered Jason Mraz's "waiting for my rocket to come," and I had a hard time focusing after that. Needless to say, it was a very silly conversation, but I do hope her fish poops soon. And that I eventually get a different song stuck in my head.

Last night was the kickoff of book club! I'm very excited about this new venture. My brain has spent the last two years in a perpetual state of worn out, probably because school forced me to spend all of my waking hours either reading or writing research. I love to read, but I was too tired to read anything of substance so it's been nothing but Harry Potter and chicklit for a long time. I know this sounds a little backwards, but since I've finished school, I've longed to read books that made me learn. Our first book club read was The Kite Runner, which deals largely with politics in Afghanistan. It was a tough read, but also a beautiful story, and I highly recommend it. Then the best part... last night, 4 of us girls got together, discussed the book, discussed lots of other things, drank two bottles of wine and laughed a whole lot. Pretty close to a perfect night, and I can't wait for our next meeting in January. We're taking it easy and reading Marian Keyes next -- one of my fave authors!

One more piece of news -- this morning I signed up for the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run. It's in Washington, DC in April. Pretty excited about this too. It will definitely be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to being in training again. I did a half marathon a few years ago, and that was definitley the time in my life when I felt the healthiest and most in tune with my body. This time around, I resolve to condition my whole body, so that means lots of strength training in addition to the running. (In case you haven't noticed, I'm a very goal-oriented person.) Ask me how the training's going periodically, k? I may be in need of a sharp kick in the rear by then. The race registration actually says that if I run slower than 14-minute miles, I'll be asked to leave the course. Wow, harsh! So, there you go. Must be able to run at least 10 consecutive 14-minute miles by April in order to avoid embarrassment and wear my race t-shirt with pride.

Well, busy day so must get back to it. First I'm going to hit the treadmill and take the perfect dog for a walk. Then, lunch with my favorite husband, followed by more work, and tonight, I'm going with a friend to see A Christmas Carol. Fun stuff! Until then, "I'm just a drug store prophet with my hand in my pocket and I'm waiting for my rocket to come... well, it started way back in NYC..."

The Sick Girl Speaks

After a very long couple of days, I have finally made my way back to the land of the living! Despite the unpleasantness of being sick, it did make me realize several things.
1. My cats are really nice to me when I'm sick.
2. My husband will make soup for me if I cough a couple of times, make the "it's hard to talk because my throat hurts" gesture and give him sad eyes.
3. Lindsay Lohan was really cute before she went skanky.

As of Wednesday, I'm off the couch and back in business. Good timing too, as this is a busy time of year for Purple Pony Communications. Last week I made a few investments in the business. I registered a domain name (www.purpleponycommunications.com). It's not a very informative web site yet, but this does allow me to have an official business email, which I'm pretty stoked about. And having committed to an email address, I also committed to new business cards. I have had several opportunities to network in the last few weeks, which is also very exciting. There seems to be quite a demand for what I do. For those of you who don't know what it is I do, I'm a freelance writer, focusing on marketing and public relations writing. Some of the conversations I've had recently involve work in the education field, which I'd be all for, seeing as though I have a Master's in that field and all!

Speaking of my Master's, it just occurred to me a few days ago that I needed special attire to make the trip across the stage! Apparently the whole point of being hooded is having a hood with which to be hooded. Oops. Fortunately, I called the bookstore yesterday and after a very confusing conversation (I asked the sales girl if gowns were on sale -- she thought I was trying to get one cheap, but I really just wanted the option of bringing one home), I learned that my slacker ways had not in fact managed to get me out of graduation. This morning I headed over to campus, paid to park, then paid $70 for my graduation finery. Yowza. Now, I think I need new shoes to go with my fancy new gown, and probably a new dress to match the new shoes.

You're probably wondering what it is that I'm going to do with my new shiny Master's degree. Well, in addition to hanging it on the wall and throwing darts at and adding it to my resume to make me look cooler, I am now a professional pet sitter with Fetch! (The exclamation point is part of their title. The grammar nazi in me wants you to know that I know the proper use of exclamation points.) I got my first client this week -- a little pug that I'll be taking on walks three times a week starting in January. The transition has been a bit rocky, but I think I'm settling in to my new role as an entrepreneur and housewife. There are days when I think I would feel more significant if I left the house to go to work and could give a more concise answer when people ask what I do. But I know me, and I know I'd be bored to tears with the same old routine everyday. Plus this way I get to take off on Monday mornings to do yoga. All in all, I'd have to say my current lot in life is not bad.

Fun things on tap for the next few days: two Christmas parties, church in the new Durham facility, and after many failed attempts, a screening of High School Musical 3! Stay tuned!

Now with 100% less pictures and 400% more germs!

So Court's been sick for the past three days, which is a real bummer. I kind of sat around and poked her occasionally, if for no other reason than to make sure she still mumbled something incoherent after the pokes. Good times. The good news is, she's feeling much better, which means I can go back to being a lazy slug. Or not.

I have to train people this weekend. Me! Training! Granted, they're high school students, so that has to count for something, I guess. I'm teaching these guys a little bit about programming. It's pretty awesome, it's for the robotics group I mentor. You can learn more about the program at www.usfirst.org, or hang around me for about 10 minutes and mention the word "robotics." It's a pretty awesome gig, and I'm happy to be doing it, but what it really boils down to is the time I'm sitting here typing this entry, I should probably be making pretty slides. For that matter, the hours I just spent on my weekly game session should probably be spent on making slides. Really, when you get down to it, I should be making slides. But I'm obviously not at the moment, so what's that say about me? Oh yeah, that I'm a slacker.

Random shout-out time! So my best friend got engaged tonight, which is pretty spiffy... Being married for all of 3 months, I think I can attest to how awesome it is... Naturally, I can't really swear it'll always be awesome, but since Court has since walked into the room and is watching me type this, I'll do my best. Ahem: It'll always be awesome. (I actually believe that) ^_^

The only other exciting news that actually directly pertains to me that I can think of is our new tv! Well, new to us, anyway. A friend of mine needed some help doing manual labor, and at the same time, he was looking to get rid of his old tv. Being as how I love his old tv, I promptly agreed to do so, and now our poor tiny living room is dominated by a mammoth floor model rear projection tv. And I'm the happiest girl at the dance. ^_^

I think that's about all of the news that's fit to electronically publish, so I'm going to scamper off to do something pseudo-productive. Like floss my nightstand. If anyone needs me, I'll be doing that. Exactly that.

--Ak out

Tis the season

Hello, and welcome to the inaugural post of the Beck family blog! It's a year of many firsts for us... first ringworm epidemic, first marriage and now our first holiday season as a family. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, amidst weak protests from Tracy (aka Ak) (aka The Grinch), we decorated the house for Christmas. The boys were, as always, quite enthusiastic and willing to help.

Last year, Woot offered this wine as a symbol of holiday good cheer. Ak, being known to utter a few humbugs of his own during the holiday season, immediately had a case shipped to Court's house. While initially dismayed to see 6 bottles of the same wine, Court did appreciate the irony. Fortunately, it turned out to be pretty good wine, and has become a Beck holiday tradition (perhaps a short-lived one, as we only have one bottle left).

Court hung the first ornament on the tree -- the Holiday Armadillo! Which could be risky, because everyone knows if Santa and the Holiday Armadillo are ever in the same room for too long, the universe will implode!


Baby Ben helps with the rigging of the holiday disco ball. This was a wedding present. By the by, Ben "helping" went about as well as Ralphie helping his dad change the tire in "A Christmas Story." Oh FUDGE! He looked appalled when he was informed that his help wasn't so much helpful.

Alex, on the other hand, was quite an asset. "No, wait, tie the twine to that piece, see? That will work as a stabilizer plus improve the equilibirum. Good work today, person who brings me food. Now, go hang it, not too high because I intend to hunt it. When you're done with that, bring me food."

Meanwhile, back on the piano, Ben bravely wards off the tissue paper, thus ensuring the safety of the nativity scene and restoring order and justice to the living room.

Marty missed the decorating of the tree, the hanging of the holiday disco ball and the attempted nativity scene heist. He did, however, keep that pesky bone from troubling us. He's pretty close to a perfect dog.


Our stockings were hung by the bookcase with care, in hopes that no cats would find their way up there.

Ben inspects his big brother's handy work and studies the jump for later.


Alberto, our tree. This lovely little tree was purchased from the TROSA lot at the Streets at Southpoint. Great trees and a great cause -- check it out if you haven't already bought your tree. We have since added some garland and a star. However, due to the destructive nature of cats (especially little silver tabby kittens named Ben), we thought it best to leave ornaments off the bottom half. After a hard evening's work, we retired to bed, leaving our perfect angels to guard the tree.