Back to School

My grad school classes started last night. The professor of my Intro. to Graduate Seminar class, Dr. Dong, was my faculty advisor during my undergraduate years at Pacific. Walking into the WPC - one of the big classroom buildings on campus - was a surreal experience. It's been six years, but some things never change.

Oh, and goodbye social life for the next two years. Grad School is going to be more work than I thought.

It's Not About the Bike (Except When It Is)

I did my first triathlon on Saturday morning - a super sprint in preparation for a sprint distance in October. During this feat of athleticism I discovered that my mountain bike basically sucks when it comes to speed and distance. I must have gotten passed by 30 people (at least). Totally humbling. But, all in all it was a great first effort and I exceeded my expectations and my time goal, so that's all that matters!

Read more about this and see pics of my 10-year high school reunion at www.myspace.com/beckyperry. If you don't have a myspace - get one! It's how all the cool kids keep in touch.

Swim! Bike! Run!

Thanks to some forceful encouragement from my boss, and a need for some "real" training before my sprint triathlon in October, I decided to sign up for a super-sprint triathlon. The distances for each event aren't too long and it'll give me some much-needed practice in transitioning between the swim, the bike, and the run.

I'm nervous! It's my first open water swim and my first time actually "racing" on a bike! I DESPERATELY don't want to come in last. The cool thing: it's on Saturday - the same day as my high school reunion. So, barring injury or disqualification, I can attend my reunion as a "tri-athlete." Woo hoo!

On Second Thought . . .

My next plane ride will be sooner than anticipated. I'll be flying into Long Beach on Saturday, September 1st for the Disneyland Half Marathon. I'm super excited - I just wish I'd actually been training for it.

Dreams (not the Cranberries song)

In the past month I have had at least two dreams where I've either been involved in/or witnessed an airplane crash. Already a nervous flyer, this makes me even less excited to get on a plane - fortunately no flights scheduled in the near future.

I decided to look up "airplane" in one of those online dream dictionaries. This is what it said:

To dream that a plane crashes, suggests that you have set overly high and unrealistic goals for yourself. Your goals may be too high and are impossible to realize. You are in danger of having it come crashing down. Alternatively, your lack of confidence, self-defeating attitude and self-doubt toward the goals you have set for yourself is represented by the crashing airplane; you do not believe in your ability to attain those goals. Loss of power and uncertainty in achieving your goals are also signified.

Sadly, this is strangely accurate and says a lot about what my subconscious is feeling about some recent job changes. Although I have to wonder; where did the research of dreams come from? Is it at all accurate or is it on the same level as astrology?

No Fences

"Jim didn't think in terms of boundaries at all the way the rest of us do. There are always these fences we build around ourselves and our ideas. Jim seemed to have no fences."

--Jon Stone speaking about Jim Henson

"I believe in taking a positive attitude toward the world, toward people, and toward my work. I think I'm here for a purpose. I think it's likely that we all are, but I'm only sure about myself."

--Jim Henson

Pandora's Box

Last week I got moved out of my cozy under-the-radar office in the back of The Record's Circulation Department to new digs (a desk) right outside the Circulation Director's Office. (The jury's still out on whether or not this really was a promotion . . .)

So not the point though.

The point is that this change resulted in an amazing new discovery on my part. You see, my boss highly recommended the MSN Pandora music player. For those of you as clueless as I was, Pandora is a free service where you can type in your favorite music artist and they will start streaming music not only from that musician, but from others that have a similar sound.

IT IS SO AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!

For the past few days I have been streaming Switchfoot radio, which gave me some great indie, punk, rock selections. Today, for a nice girl-power, self-esteem boosting change, I typed in one of my favorite pop artists (who I refuse to name out of embarrassment). Cough, Hilary Duff, Cough Cough.

The coolest part of all this is that you get to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to each selection. This helps the music player format even further to your musical tastes. The only bad thing is giving a thumbs up to a song that you know is abysmal, but still love it anyway.

For example, a few minutes ago I gave a thumbs up to a Britney Spears song. For a moment I felt like there could be a programmer in an office somewhere judging me.

Wishes Do Come True!

Hope. Strength. Joy.

The purpose of the Make a Wish Foundation is to provide hope, strength, and joy to kids with life threatening or debilitating illnesses. I have been really lucky to have aligned myself with this awesome organization for the last 3 years. Over the weekend we started a new chapter in San Joaquin County history. Our first Make a Wish radiothon!

For the better part of two days we took over the airwaves of Kat Country 103 in Modesto. I heard stories that made me weep and met tons of amazingly strong wish kids and their families who have been through hell and back. Lauren is 18 and in remission from Leukemia. She is gorgeous and had her wish granted live on air. She left for New York City on Monday and gets to spend 4 fabulous days shopping, sightseeing, and living it up on Broadway! I met Diego who has osteo-something-or-other, a type of cancer that has affected his growth and bone development His wish? Hot wheels! Then there's Gianna who actually gave her wish to the family of the little boy whose donated liver made it possible for her to live. And these are only a few of the stories!

After all was said and done we raised over $90,000, had 10 calls from prospective volunteers, heard from a mom who wants to fundraise at her child's school, had a business offer to sponsor a wish, and got tons of awareness around the Central Valley! I feel so fortunate to have found an organization that I am passionate about and where I can see firsthand what my work is doing. In fact, this Saturday I will be taking 8-year-old Isaac on a shopping spree to Toys R' Us. So you see, wishes do come true!

(Oh, and I got to spend the weekend hanging out with Kitty Cougar. She rocks!)

www.makeawish.org

Ridiculous Optimism

I like to consider myself a happy and optimistic person. I usually take things in stride and find delight in simple things. Unfortunately though, I've noticed that when things happen that don't fit with my plans, my perception tends to skew on the negative. I also get strangely passive aggressive and become highly cynical. Weird. Part of me does it because it's funnier than just passively accepting something that I can't change.

A good friend bought me an awesome book for my birthday. It's called "Before You Leap: A frog's-eye view of life's greatest lessons" and is "written" by my hero, one Kermit T. Frog. Here are a few pearls of wisdom that caused me to stop and re-adjust my attitude.

"I believe that we form our own lives, that we create our own reality and that everything works out for the best. I know I drive some people crazy with what seems to be ridiculous optimism, but it has always worked for me."

"Life is great. But without the bad times, we wouldn't know the difference."

and my favorite . . .
"Always be happy. When people are in a bad mood, the last thing they want to do is hang around with happy people." :)

The world would be a better place if we all thought like Kermit!

Why do they do that?

I don't understand when restaurant servers take mental notes of my order. Am I supposed to be impressed? When you are the type of person that has a lot of variables to their order, you want the server taking copious notes.

Never having worked in the food service industry, perhaps I am unaware of the strategy or reasoning behind this practice.

Please enlighten me.

Ch-Ch-Changes

I've decided that I really like change as long as I like the change that is occurring.

Other than that, change sucks.

Bad Blogger

Well, I have come to the conclusion that I am a bad blogger. I love to read other blogs, but have a very difficult time sitting down and committing to my own.

So, for anyone out there who actually checks in on my blog on a semi-regular basis. SORRY! I'll try to update a little more regularly from now on!